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<DATE>2013-07-29</DATE>
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<NAME>Colm MacCrossan</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed.</ITEM>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>ASTROLOGY Proved HARMLESS, USEFUL, PIOUS. Being A SERMON Written by <HI>Richard Carpenter.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL>ROM. 14. 10.</BIBL> Why dost thou judge thy brother? <HI>or,</HI> why dost thou &s;et at nought thy brother? We &s;hall all &s;tand before the judgement-&s;eat of Christ.</Q>
<Q><BIBL><HI>S. Clem.</HI> Ep. 1. ad <HI>Jacob.</HI></BIBL> Sunt Homicidae interfectores Fratrum: &amp; &s;unt Homicidae detractores eorum. <HI>There are Homi|cides, who kill their Brethren: and there are Homi|cides, who detract from them.</HI>
<BIBL>It was the common Saying of S. <HI>Peter,</HI> according to <HI>Clemens Ro|manus,</HI> being the <HI>Clement</HI> here cited.</BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed by <HI>Ja: Cottrel,</HI> for <HI>John Allen</HI> at the Ri&s;ing Sun, and <HI>Jo&s;eph Barber</HI> at the Lamb in <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-yard. 1657.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>Docti&s;simo Domino ET Amico meo Multis nominibus ob&s;ervando, <HI>ELIAE ASHMOLO,</HI> Armigero.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Forti&s;sime Literarum A&s;trologicarum <HI>Atlas:</HI></SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_ET&s;i Con&s;iliis meis intimum ha|beam <HI>Bernardum;</HI> cujus e&s;t in <HI>Coelo Theologico,</HI> veluti Stella primae Magnitudinis; <HI>Haec</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Bern. &s;erm. 43. in Cant.</NOTE> <HI>mea &s;ublimior Philo&s;ophia, &s;cire Je&s;um &amp; hunc crucifixum: Sub|limem</HI> tamen <HI>Philo&s;ophiam,</HI> Cor|porum Coele&s;tium indagatricem, cum Philo&s;o|phis ad unum omnibus, in &s;ummis pono. Quippe quae meditationi juxta, &amp; actioni, honorifice ma|teriam fomitemque &s;uppeditat.</P>
<P><HI>Meditatio</HI> &amp; <HI>Actio</HI> con&s;pirant in <HI>Vitam mixtam,</HI>
<PB REF="3"> quae <HI>perfectionis</HI> numeros omnes implet, utpote complexa <HI>perfectiones</HI> ambarum, licet non in <HI>gradu &s;ummo</HI> &s;icutique &s;unt in ip&s;is. Quinimo e&s;t Vita Angelorum, at&abque; etiam haud incongrue Solis Ra|diis a&s;&s;imilatur, qui uno eodemque tempore, &s;ub|&s;tantiae Solis fideliter adhaerent, &amp; in terras diffu&s;e prolabuntur.</P>
<P>Ait <HI>Metropoli Judaeorum</HI> Dominus per <HI>Ezekie|lem;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 16. 10. <HI>Idierp. Vulgat. &s;eps.</HI></NOTE> Calceavi te janthino. Ita <HI>vulgatus:</HI> Vel, ut habent <HI>Septuaginta,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>Hyacinthino,</HI> i. e. <HI>violacei &amp; Coele&s;tis coloris calceo.</HI> Ut <HI>Symbolice</HI> no|tum daret; <HI>Sanctorum,</HI> quibus Eccle&s;ia Mater e&s;t, qui&abque; ad <HI>Civitatem Dei</HI> pertinent, gre&s;&s;us e&s;&s;e Coe|le&s;tes ver&s;u&s;&abque; Coelum ver&s;os. Nempe, quod <HI>Sancti &s;ancti&s;simi Chri&s;ti,</HI> qui <HI>de&s;cendit de Coelo,</HI> ut <HI>in Coelum</HI> Triumphator <HI>a&s;cenderet,</HI> ve&s;tigiis in&s;i&s;tant, mandati&s;&abque; divinis re&s;pondendo Coelum petant Coelorum: Quin &amp; in <HI>A&s;trologos</HI> quodammodo <HI>Calcei</HI> quadrant <HI>Hyacinthini.</HI> At&abque; ut aurei mali &s;ucco &s;criptae Literae, tum demum leguntur, cum flammis at&abque; ignibus illu&s;trantur: ita divinae po|tentiae <HI>Cylindros</HI> in humanis accurate <HI>perve&s;tigamus,</HI> ubi <HI>res humanas</HI> ad <HI>A&s;tra</HI> &s;apienter transferimus.</P>
<P>Egregie <HI>Ari&s;toteles;</HI> &s;ed filo &s;olutiore: <HI>Cognitio mi|nima</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t. lib. 1. de Partib. Anima|tiam, cap. 5.</NOTE> <HI>de rebus maximis, major e&s;t, quam cognitio maxi|ma de minimis rebus.</HI> Aqua fluvialis, dum &s;uo con|tineatur at&abque; agitetur alveo, naribus aut oculis haud &s;e praebet ingratam: &s;i diverticula quaerat at&abque; otia, mutata res e&s;t: Aquas marinas ca&s;us manet idem; idem&abque; <HI>&s;acram dein&s;uper A&s;trologiam. Omnium motuum cau&s;a e&s;t primus motus. Bonorum om|nium Actuum e&s;t cau&s;a Actus ille qui primus at&abque; opti|mus.</HI> Utrobi&abque; tamen libertas inconcu&s;&s;a con&s;i&s;tit.
<PB REF="3"> Si nam&abque; Stellae voluntati no&s;trae victrices admo|verent Machinas, totum uti&abque; hominem pervade|rent. Rationem ingerit <HI>Angelicus Doctor: Qui|libet</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">D. Tho. p. 1. q. 5. art. 4. ad 3.</NOTE> <HI>habens voluntatem, dicitur bonus, in quantum habet bonam voluntatem: quia per voluntatem utimur omnibus quae in nobis &s;unt. Unde non dici|tur bonus homo, qui habet bonum intellectum, &s;ed qui habet bonam voluntatem.</HI> In omni &s;ententia novus <HI>Achates,</HI> Imaguncula nova. Sed <HI>Excellentiae</HI> at&abque; <HI>Innocentiae</HI> fraudem facit Invidia. In longum pal|ma rectum&abque; porrigitur, &amp;, ultra fructuum deli|cias, ramos explicat fragrantes: At <HI>incommodant</HI> ei <HI>Serpentes</HI> ac Ranunculi, radicibus adhaerentes.</P>
<P>Homo nigellus, qua&s;i umbra ex <HI>Hypo&s;cenio, A&s;tro|logos</HI> per&s;equitur. Non huic unquam detulit pri|mas, palmam&abque; dedit <HI>Alma Mater,</HI> non Soror <HI>Al|mae.</HI> Preterea, rumor in vulgus abiit, hunc ne&s;cio quibus laborare Paroxy&s;mis; &amp; rur&s;um &s;emper ad ingenium redire: nec po&s;&s;e cogitationes, vel &s;anterna delinitas, coercere: &s;cilicet in aegris his exulcerati&s;&abque; rebus, &amp; extrema jam &s;pe pendenti|bus. Certe, coguntur in angu&s;tum hujus copiae, qui praeter Anglicanae Linguae petitas e trivio faeculas, haud quicquam venditat: qui&abque; &s;urdis narrare velit fabulam, redolentem profecto hir|cum, &s;uem; &s;imium, haud qualemcun&abque; &s;ed im|primis eum qui &s;it vetus, vietus, veterno&s;us. Ad|e&s;t, &amp; abe&s;t: verba conglobat; idem&abque; re&s;cindit: comparet; ac, velut unguento magico delibutus, con&s;pectui &s;e, cum voluerit &s;ubducit. Deinde Le|pus (ut ita dicam) ad Ovium gregem &s;e recipit, in&s;equentibus a Tergo regiis canibus; non ut O|ves adjungat &s;ibi comites, &s;ed ut odore leporino in
<PB REF="4"> Ovium abeunte, canes effugiat.</P>
<P>Scrip&s;it <HI>Hieronymus Rorarius</HI> Libros duos, quibus <HI>Titulus</HI> e&s;t, <HI>Quod Animalia Bruta &s;aepe ratione utantur</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hieron. Rorar. lib. 1.</NOTE> <HI>melius Homine.</HI> In quorum primo, non inamoenam de cane texit Hi&s;toriam: cum Circitor e gremio Libellum extraheret di&s;tinctum notis mu&s;icis, ad genua confe&s;tim canis exiliens, canentem perite &s;ectabatur voce nunc acuta, nunc etiam gravi; modo quidem continuato Spiritu in longum tra|cta, modo iterum inflexo delicate variata. Et nunc Circitori plebeius canis accinit, i&s;&abque; praeterea ira|tus ac rabidus, nec tamen vel adhuc timendus.</P>
<P>Idem <HI>Rorarius</HI> in Libro &s;ecundo, literis exaratum<NOTE PLACE="marg">Idem. lib. 2.</NOTE> reliquit; homines non paucos aliquoties, imo vero quotidie reperiri, quibus ob admi&s;&s;a furta ter|gus virgis interci&s;um, ab&s;ci&s;&s;ae auriculae, genae cauterio &s;ignatae, truncata manus altera, ocu|lus erutus; nec tamen a furtis continere &s;e po&s;&s;e, donec laqueo &s;e pendulos dederint. In hunc ad unguem cadunt haec omnia, repo&s;ito aliquanti&s;per laqueo.</P>
<P>Accipe nunc igitur, Vir optime, in benevolentiae tuae Apothecam, (cujus cogitatio, in&s;tar <HI>Nepenthis Homerici,</HI> in hac mea tam vitrea, &amp; ancipiti vale|tudine, me luxatum &amp; jacentem recreavit ac e|rexit in pedes) pauculos ex uberiore me&s;&s;e mani|pulos. Noli, quae&s;o, in futurum propendentes praepedire conatus; fervori &s;acro noli frigidam of|fundere. Sub tuo Patrocinii velut <HI>A&s;teri&s;mo,</HI> res ip&s;a mihi prae&s;tabit adoream.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Tui ob&s;ervanti&s;&s;imus: Richardus Carpenterus.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>To the Honourable SOCIETY OF ASTROLOGERS.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Gentlemen,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_AS in our <HI>Country,</HI> which is Hea|ven, God is <HI>Speculum Crea|turarum; The Gla&s;s of the Creatures:</HI> wherein the Crea|tures are re&s;plendent, vi&s;ible, and pre&s;ented by the <HI>Beatifical Vi&s;ion,</HI> (though not <HI>as it bea|tifies:</HI>) So in our <HI>Way,</HI> being this World and Life, the Creatures are <HI>Speculum Creatoris, The Gla&s;s in which we behold the Creator.</HI> Now becau&s;e the Creator is <HI>Primum Ens, The fir&s;t Thing:</HI> and therefore the mo&s;t noble of all Things; tho&s;e Creatures are the clearer, and the more Christalline Gla&s;s, which are the mo&s;t noble. In this rank are the <HI>Heavenly Bodies.</HI> And to the view of this <HI>Gla&s;s</HI> e&s;pecially, ye are now invited, and as it were, &s;ollicited by them.</P>
<P><HI>Tertullian</HI> ob&s;erves, That the verbal Salutation of<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tert. lib. 5. Con|tra Marcion. cap. 5.</NOTE>
<PB REF="5"> the old Jews, when they met occa&s;ionally, <HI>Scalom le|chem, Pax vobis, Peace be unto you:</HI> and that the <HI>Apo&s;tolical Salutation</HI> &s;omewhat differed, being <HI>Gratia &amp; Pax vobis; Grace and Peace be unto you;</HI> becau&s;e the Apostles were the Preachers of <HI>Grace</HI> derived from God through Christ. Wherefore, that the noble Creature may be a fair <HI>Gla&s;s</HI> to you, repre&s;enting the Creator; my <HI>Salutation</HI> of you, &s;hall be likewi&s;e <HI>Apo&s;tolical: Grace be to you, and Peace: Grace</HI> from God the <HI>Fountain of Grace;</HI> and that <HI>Peace</HI> which <HI>divine Grace</HI> produces, and &s;ettles. <HI>Grace be to you</HI> before your enquiry into the <HI>heavenly Bodies;</HI> and a <HI>gracious Peace,</HI> after it: that your enquiry may be chiefly and <HI>primordially,</HI> a &s;ober enquiry into God and his Omnipotency. For, as Saint <HI>Gregory Nazi|anzen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>St.</HI> Greg. Naz. in Apologetico.</NOTE> <HI>Theologically</HI> teaches: <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>It is the be&s;t or|der, when we begin either a Speech or a Work; religiou&s;ly to begin with God, and to end with God religiou&s;ly.</HI> By the way: I do not here abu&s;e the most holy Name of <HI>God,</HI> and of <HI>Religion,</HI> (although &s;ome have done it) as <HI>Conjurers</HI> in their <HI>Incantati|ons;</HI> to perpetrate tho&s;e Things which are most adver&s;e to God, and mo&s;t destructive of Religion: but I u&s;e it onely in the &s;hutting up of my <HI>Apo&s;tolical Salutation</HI> of you, as ye are Chri&s;tians, and as wi&s;e beholders of the <HI>Gla&s;s,</HI> wherein the Creator, though in Him&s;elf invi&s;i|ble, vi&s;ibly appears and &s;hews Him&s;elf.</P>
<P>If ye &s;teer this cour&s;e; (and I am not warranted to judge otherwi&s;e of you:) I &s;hall number your ignorant, yea, impudent Enemies, and tho&s;e who revile you, a|mong&s;t the <HI>mad people</HI> of this Nation. And now it calls
<PB REF="5"> for admittance; I will open to you a <HI>Secret,</HI> lock'd up in the clo&s;e Cabinet of my Thoughts. But, I pray, keep it as a <HI>Secret,</HI> and tell it not abroad: neither let it go in|to the cold air. I have <HI>experimentally</HI> found in the world, that Princes have their Jayls for Offenders, and their <HI>Bedlams</HI> for <HI>mad People:</HI> and I know, that God is the greatest of Princes; and that Hell is his Jayl. And in good &s;ooth I never heard of, read of, or beheld a place, which can more appliably be called his <HI>Bedlam</HI> than <HI>England.</HI> But ye will &s;ay: How &s;o? <HI>England</HI> God's <HI>Bedlam?</HI> are all the <HI>People</HI> of Eng|land <HI>mad?</HI> I an&s;wer: No: for in a <HI>Bedlam-hou&s;e,</HI> the <HI>mad People</HI> have their &s;ober Keepers, their wi&s;e Phy&s;itians, their civil Waiters and Servants; and al&s;o tho&s;e, who&s;e office it is to whip them, and thereby to a|wake and recal their Sen&s;es. There's the Secret. But they who ignorantly and impudently &s;coff at you, are cer|tainly in the number of the <HI>mad ones.</HI> And therefore, be not ye di&s;mayed; be not di&s;comforted.</P>
<P>The P&s;almi&s;t &s;ingeth of Man: <HI>Thou ha&s;t made</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 8. 5. <HI>S. Hieron. in Bibl.</HI></NOTE> <HI>him a little lower then the Angels.</HI> Saint <HI>Hierom</HI> gives: <HI>a little lower then God;</HI> the Word being <HI>E|lohim,</HI> &s;ignifying both <HI>God</HI> and <HI>Angels.</HI> And in ma|ny re&s;pects, man is priviledg'd before the Angels. One of which I &s;hall propo&s;e here. The Creature purely cor|poreal is &s;ubjected to the Angels, becau&s;e the Angels &s;tand above it in <HI>order,</HI> and becau&s;e they may <HI>natu|rally</HI> exerci&s;e their prevalent <HI>power</HI> upon it; if God gives the Command: as men al&s;o can &s;upernatually, who are &s;upernatually endued with the <HI>power of working Miracles.</HI> But it is not &s;ubjected to them <HI>quoad u&s;um,</HI> to u&s;e it as God hath &s;ubjected it to men. It is granted: the Angels more acutely, and accurately,
<PB REF="6"> more fully and and plentifully under&s;tand the <HI>motions</HI> and <HI>effects</HI> of the <HI>heavenly Bodies,</HI> then men do: But yet again, they do not, as men do, communicate their knowledge to men, (nor always to Angels) neither are we rendred more learned by them.</P>
<P>In a Lymbeck, the &s;ub&s;tance of greate&s;t purity and vertue is &s;ublimated: I mean: climbes to the top of the Lymbeck: when the &s;ullen dro&s;sy matter &s;inks down|ward, and falls to the bottom. Go on therefore, O ye no|ble Students in <HI>A&s;trology:</HI> and becau&s;e the &s;oul is im|mur'd in the Body, and is like the Bird of <HI>Para|di&s;e,</HI> when &s;he is cag'd; though your Bodies, being dro&s;sy, are not obedientially &s;ubject to your &s;ouls in their motions: advance your &s;ouls towards Heaven. And yet as <HI>Saturn</HI> the most &s;upreme Planets hath the &s;lowe&s;t cour&s;e; &s;o the higher ye are in your Thoughts, be ye the more deliberate in your actions: and I pray God to &s;trike all our hard and heavy hearts with the <HI>Rod of Mo&s;es,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 17. Heb. 12. 1.</NOTE> that our &s;ins, and every <HI>weight</HI> in our &s;ouls, may run away in tears; and that we a&s;cending to and above the <HI>Lights in Heaven, our conver&s;ation</HI> may be <HI>in hea|ven,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Philip. 3. 20. Mat. 5. 16.</NOTE> and <HI>&s;hine</HI> upon Earth.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Yours in all Chri|&s;tian Re&s;pects: Richard Carpenter.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="6">
<HEAD>ASTROLOGY Proved Harmle&s;s, U&s;eful, Pious.</HEAD>
<P>_ALthough God be, as he is <HI>de&s;crib'd</HI> in <HI>Diony&s;ius Areopagita;</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">:<NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Diony&s;. A|reop. de divin. Nom. cap. 1.</NOTE> <HI>a &s;uper&s;ub&s;tantial Sub|&s;tance, an Under&s;tanding not to be under&s;tood, a Word never to be &s;poken:</HI> and therefore we know not the <HI>my&s;terious</HI> or profound Things of God, but as they have been chanell'd to us by God him&s;elf in <HI>divine Revelation:</HI> yet his Creatures, as de&s;cended from him, and even tho&s;e which are above us (in <HI>place</HI> or <HI>perfection</HI>) may be in &s;ome due mea&s;ure, known by us, upon our own que&s;t and enquiry.</P>
<P>The Rea&s;on is Pillar-&s;trong, Becau&s;e the highe&s;t and mo&s;t perfect of Creatures are conditioned <HI>infinitely</HI> be|neath God: and <HI>betwixt finite and infinite there is no pro|portion.</HI></P>
<P>Where Saint <HI>Paul</HI> writing to the <HI>Ephe&s;ians,</HI> hath in the <HI>Engli&s;h, The foundation of the World;</HI> and in the <HI>Latine,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 1. 4.</NOTE>
<PB N="2" REF="7"> <HI>Mundi Con&s;titutionem: The Con&s;titution of the World</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Editio vul|garis. Textus Grae|cus.</NOTE> the <HI>Original</HI> founds, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the dejection of the World.</HI> Becau&s;e the World, and the Things in and of the World, are, by vertue of their Creation <HI>dejected,</HI> and ca&s;t downwards; having received as it were, an <HI>infinite fall</HI> in their Creation, and <HI>dejection</HI> from God. Wherefore Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom,</HI> examining the&s;e words of<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>S. Chry&s;o&s;t. in cap. 1. Ep. ad</HI> Ephe&s;.</NOTE> Saint <HI>Paul,</HI> declares, That there is <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>a great and un&s;peakable Sublimity of God, from which the Creatures have in their Creation, fallen.</HI> Yea <HI>Origen,</HI> be|lieves,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Origen in cap.</HI> 8. Joan.</NOTE> That the word <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, was divinely invented and excogitated by the Apo&s;tle to &s;ignifie the <HI>dejection, abjection,</HI> and vility of the World in re&s;pect of God, and of his <HI>un&s;peakable &s;ublimity.</HI> And &s;en&s;ing the deep &s;ay|ing of our Saviour, <HI>Ye are from beneath, I am from above;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8. 23.</NOTE> <HI>ye are of this world, I am not of this world:</HI> in which place, the <HI>Latine</HI> yieldeth, <HI>Vos de deors&ugrave;m e&s;tis. Ye are from</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bibl. vulg. Text. Graec.</NOTE> <HI>downwards;</HI> and the <HI>Greek, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, Ye are of the things that are down,</HI> or <HI>downward:</HI> He &s;aith, <HI>Rect&egrave;, deors&ugrave;m: Nam quomod&ograve; mundus i&s;te habere aliquid</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Orig.</HI> ubi &s;u|pra.</NOTE> <HI>&s;upern&egrave; po&s;&s;et, cujus conditio e&s;t dejecto? It is rightly &s;aid, downward: For, how could this World have any thing on high, who&s;e condition is dejection?</HI> He infers afterwards, <HI>Totus ita&abque; mundus, &amp; quae in ip&s;o &s;unt, in dejectione &s;unt. Therefore the whole World, and the Things in it, are in the &s;tate of dejection.</HI></P>
<P>The Marrow-Truth here, which I would bring with|in my Verge, and lodge in the Centre of my Di&s;cour&s;e, is, <HI>Vi&s;ible Things in a dejected condition, and thrown down infinitely beneath God; may be known in a fit mea&s;ure by the Prince of all vi&s;ible Creatures: yea, he ought to know them in a princely mea&s;ure; they being &s;ub&s;ervient to him, and to his End, which is the Knowledge, Wor&s;hip, and Glory of God; and he being directed with his face towards them, above, be|neath, and on every &s;ide.</HI></P>
<PB N="3" REF="7">
<P>This place my Text claims:</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Gen.</HI> 1. 14.</BIBL> And let them be for Signs, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q>
<P>The Words are the Words of God the Creator; and they point to the <HI>Lights</HI> in the Heavens above us: They were &s;poken when the <HI>Lights</HI> were created, in&s;tituted and <HI>&s;et in order to their end.</HI> Where note, That God's Words here are <HI>practical,</HI> and <HI>effect what they &s;ignifie.</HI></P>
<P>Let us take into our be&s;t and mo&s;t judicious thoughts, that God is an <HI>intellectual Agent,</HI> and the mo&s;t wi&s;e of all others: yea, that he is the <HI>fir&s;t Agent,</HI> upon whom all things depend, both in their <HI>Being</HI> and <HI>Operation;</HI> and by whom all things are obliged to their <HI>ends;</HI> which <HI>ends</HI> are prefixed by him. In which current of &s;en&s;e, the &s;upreme <HI>Lights</HI> are here expre&s;ly referred to an <HI>effect</HI> or action, as to an <HI>End;</HI> though <HI>partial,</HI> and not <HI>ultimate: And let them be for Signs.</HI></P>
<P>As I would not divide a <HI>Star,</HI> &s;o neither will I hew my Text into pieces. It is in the whole, an <HI>Act</HI> of God's <HI>plea&s;ure</HI> and <HI>power,</HI> by which the <HI>Lights</HI> of Heaven are de&s;igned for <HI>Signs</HI> to men upon Earth, of &s;uch Things, as being <HI>&s;ignified</HI> in the Heavens, are acted and performed upon Earth.</P>
<P>Of <HI>Signs</HI> there are two &s;orts: as adhering to this pur|po&s;e. Some are <HI>theorical</HI> or <HI>&s;peculative,</HI> others <HI>practical. Practical Signs produce into act their &s;ignificancy.</HI> As a Seal is a <HI>practical Sign:</HI> which not onely repre&s;ents an Image, but impre&s;&s;es al&s;o the Image it repre&s;ents into the Wax. In which kinde, the Stars and Planets are <HI>Signs:</HI> as <HI>&s;ignifying</HI> by their <HI>motions, conjunctions, oppo|&s;itions, ri&s;ings, &s;ettings, occultations, apparitions, defections,</HI> and <HI>various Relations</HI> and <HI>A&s;pects;</HI> and as <HI>acting</HI> by their <HI>influences.</HI> Whence the <HI>Hebrews</HI> name the Stars, <HI>Ma&s;|&s;aleth,</HI>
<PB N="4" REF="8"> being a word bred and born of <HI>Nazal, influere, to give</HI> influx <HI>or influence.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Divinity</HI> is called in the <HI>Greek Tongue</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">: which being interpreted, is <HI>Sermo de Deo, A Speech</HI> or <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e concerning God. Astrology</HI> is called in the <HI>Greek Tongue</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">: which being interpreted, is <HI>Sermo de Astris, A Speech</HI> or <HI>Di&s;cour&s;e concerning the Stars.</HI> Now the Que&s;tion is: (and it moves in a high <HI>Orb:</HI>) Whereas God hath ordained the Stars to be <HI>Signs;</HI> and they cannot be <HI>Signs,</HI> except they <HI>&s;ignifie;</HI> and they can|not <HI>&s;ignifie,</HI> with relation to the <HI>vi&s;ible World,</HI> ex|cept unto us, who onely of all vi&s;ible Creatures are ca|pable of under&s;tanding their <HI>&s;ignifications;</HI> and they can|not <HI>&s;ignifie</HI> to us, except we diligently &s;earch and en|quire into them as they are <HI>Signs:</HI> the Que&s;tion, I &s;ay, is; Whether, as there is a lawful, divine, and religious enquiry concerning God, there may not be al&s;o, a <HI>harm|le&s;s, u&s;e&s;ul,</HI> and <HI>pious</HI> enquiry concerning the Stars and their <HI>Significations?</HI></P>
<P>I prove, That enquiry into the Stars, as they are <HI>Signs,</HI> is <HI>harmle&s;s, u&s;eful,</HI> and <HI>pious:</HI> fir&s;t, by mo&s;t anci|ent and mo&s;t honourable <HI>Example.</HI> Although I believe, that <HI>Adam,</HI> the fir&s;t Man, exiled now from Paradi&s;e, and touching alwayes at the <HI>heavenly Bodies,</HI> as he look'd up towards God in his Throne; being al&s;o a long liver; was devoted to this enquiry, as highly becoming his noble and high thoughts: yet I &s;hall not call to my help, <HI>R. Solomon</HI>'s Argument, who makes <HI>Adam</HI> &s;o high,<NOTE PLACE="marg">R. Solom. in cap. 3 Deuter.</NOTE> that he touch'd Heaven with his Head. I &s;hall argue thus onely: The common, &s;erious, diligent and fervo|rous enquiry, that was made into the Stars and <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> by the <HI>Children of Seth,</HI> renders it <HI>probable,</HI> if not <HI>evident,</HI> That <HI>Adam</HI> had authorized the Work, and plained their path before them. And concerning the <HI>Children of Seth, Jo&s;ephus</HI> plainly writes: <HI>Filii autem</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;eph anti|quit. Judaic. lib. 1. cap. 4.</NOTE> <HI>Seth di&s;ciplinam Rerum Coele&s;tium &amp; ornatum earum primi|t&ugrave;s invenerunt. The Sons of Seth fir&s;t invented the Learning concerning the heavenly Bodies and their bravery.</HI> Adam
<PB N="5" REF="8"> <HI>initiated</HI> him&s;elf into the <HI>practi&s;e</HI> of it: but the <HI>Chil|dren of Seth</HI> ripen'd it into an <HI>Art</HI> or <HI>Di&s;cipline.</HI> And if this <HI>Learning</HI> fir&s;t began (for which, <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> pulls) in the <HI>Children of Seth;</HI> it was honourably ancient, and excellently honourable: becau&s;e they were the <HI>Chil|dren of Seth. Suidas</HI> de&s;cends to particulars; and, having a quick and unwearied eye in the &s;earch of <HI>Anti|quities,</HI> gives it for certain, That <HI>Seth him&s;elf invented the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Suidas in ver|bo</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">.</NOTE> <HI>Hebrew Letters, and gave Names to the Stars.</HI> And we cannot rea&s;onably think, that <HI>Seth</HI> being &s;o neer to <HI>A|dam</HI> and his practi&s;e; (which, to the god<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">y part of <HI>A|dam</HI>'s<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Gen. 2. 19, 20. &amp; the Ex|po&s;itors. <HI>See Mo&s;es Barce|phas, de Parad. p. 1. and Perer. in</HI> Gene&s;. <HI>cap. 2</HI></NOTE> Children was a <HI>Rule</HI> and <HI>Mea&s;ure</HI> for after|action;) <HI>gave Names to the Stars,</HI> but &s;uch as excellently &s;ignified their <HI>Natures:</HI> and therefore his enquiry &s;earched into the very <HI>Natures</HI> and <HI>Effects</HI> of the Stars; and in this enquiry his learned Children &s;ucceeded him. <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> walks on, and tells, what provi&s;ion the <HI>Children</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;ephasbi &s;a|pr&acirc;.</NOTE> <HI>of Seth</HI> carefully made, for the pre&s;ervation of this choice <HI>Learning.</HI> For, being warned by <HI>Adam's Pro|phe&s;ie,</HI> That there &s;hould be two de&s;tructions of the World, the one by Water, and the other by Fire; they wrote or engrav'd the <HI>Rules</HI> and <HI>Experiments</HI> of their Knowledge on two Pillars, the one being of Stone, the other of Brick: whereof the Stone-Pillar &s;tood firm in <HI>Syria,</HI> even to the dayes of <HI>Jo&s;ephus.</HI> The <HI>Sons of Seth</HI> had que&s;tionle&s;s entred upon other <HI>humane Arts</HI> or <HI>Learnings;</HI> but they did not fa&s;ten or fix any by writing, be&s;ides this; this being the mo&s;t noble.</P>
<P>It is here al&s;o, eminently worthy our ob&s;ervation: That Mechanical, inferiour, and earthly <HI>Arts,</HI> pertain|ing to Manufactry, were invented by <HI>Cain</HI> and his <HI>Children;</HI> as abundantly appears in <HI>Gene&s;is.</HI> But they<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 4. 20, 21, 22.</NOTE> were the <HI>Sons of Seth,</HI> who looked upwards, and wi&s;e|ly con&s;idered the <HI>Natures</HI> and <HI>Effects</HI> of the <HI>Heavenly Bodies.</HI></P>
<P>I prove it again by <HI>Example.</HI> When we fir&s;t hear of <HI>Abraham,</HI> we finde him by the Name of <HI>Abram.</HI> And<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 11. 26.</NOTE> this <HI>Name</HI> is extracted from <HI>Ab,</HI> &s;ignifying, <HI>Pater, Fa|ther;</HI>
<PB N="6" REF="9"> and <HI>Ram,</HI> which is in <HI>Latine, Excel&s;us, High;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. de Prae|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">a Evang. lib. 11. cap. 6.</NOTE> in <HI>Greek,</HI> according to <HI>Eu&s;ebius,</HI> in his <HI>Evangeli|cal Preparation,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>&s;ublimis, &s;ublime. Which Name,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Eu&s;ebius, he obtained, becau&s;e he profe&s;&s;ed the Chal|daical Wi&s;dom, and expended much time upon the contem|plation of the Stars and heavenly Bodies:</HI> a&s;cending by the knowledge of tho&s;e high Creatures, and of their <HI>Effects,</HI> to the knowledge of the <HI>most high God,</HI> who is the <HI>fir&s;t Cau&s;e.</HI> And hence was it, that God revealed him&s;elf to him; that he would not wor&s;hip Fire at <HI>&V;r of the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Suid. in voce,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">.</NOTE> <HI>Chaldees;</HI> and that <HI>he broke his Father's Images, and de|parted from him.</HI> The Writings of <HI>Philo the Jew,</HI> are embelli&s;hed with this very Ob&s;ervation concerning <HI>Abram,</HI> and the Interpretation of his Name. And<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philo de Cherub.</NOTE> above this, <HI>Philo</HI> calleth <HI>Abrahams Father</HI> an <HI>A&s;tronomer;</HI> but &s;uch a one as deified the Stars.</P>
<P>Let the Reader <HI>&s;et as a Seal upon his Heart:</HI> Though God &s;peaks thus to <HI>Abram</HI> in his Promi&s;e, <HI>I will make</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 13. 16. <HI>Ob&s;ervat hoc R. Solomon. Re&s;ert Abulen&s;is in</HI> Gen. 13. 15.</NOTE> <HI>thy Seed as the Du&s;t of the Earth;</HI> with an intention to humble him; and that his <HI>Seed</HI> might therewith be incited to keep God's Commandments, le&s;t they &s;hould be &s;cattered <HI>as the Dust of the Earth:</HI> yet quickly afterwards, God rai&s;es his Promi&s;e to <HI>Abram</HI>'s own <HI>Sphere</HI> and <HI>Science: And he brought him forth abroad, and &s;aid, Look now towards Heaven, and tell the Stars, if thou</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 15. 5.</NOTE> <HI>be able to number them. And he &s;aid unto him, So &s;hall thy Seed be.</HI> Which weigh'd as much as if he had &s;aid, Thou ha&s;t long, and with diligence ob&s;erved the Stars; thou ha&s;t learned that they are bright, glorious, numberle&s;s, and powerful in their <HI>influence</HI> and <HI>effects</HI> upon Earth and <HI>inferiour Things: So &s;hall thy Seed be,</HI> if they keep my Commandments.</P>
<P>It may not be lo&s;t from this place, That the &s;tudy of <HI>Astrology,</HI> was to <HI>Diony&s;ius Areopagita,</HI> a ble&s;&s;ed means of his coming to Chri&s;t: who, beholding that the <HI>Eclip&s;e of the Sun</HI> in our Saviour's pa&s;&s;ion, exceeded the model of a <HI>natural Eclip&s;e;</HI> received into his Heart and <HI>Meditations, Deum Naturae patientem. The God of
<PB N="7" REF="9"> Nature, made Man and &s;uffering for us;</HI> and afterwards wrote to his Ma&s;ter <HI>Apollophanes: Sol in ip&s;ius verae lucis</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Diony&s;. Are|op. in Ep. ad Apolloph.</NOTE> <HI>occubitu lucere non potuit: The Sun could not &s;hine in the &s;etting of the true Light.</HI> He was brought by that <HI>Eclip&s;e of the Sun,</HI> concurring with his knowledge of <HI>Eclip&s;es:</HI> to<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 1. 9.</NOTE> the knowledge of <HI>the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, I prove it by <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI> The Doctrine of <HI>Aquinas</HI> is impregnable, and &s;tands like a Tower in the Fort of <HI>Rea&s;on; Angeli illum gradum tenent in &s;ub&s;tantiis</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">D. Tho. p. 1. q. 58. Art 3. in corp.</NOTE> <HI>&s;piritualibus, quem corpora coele&s;tia in &s;ub&s;ta<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">is corporeis: The Angels hold that degree in &s;piritual &s;ub&s;tances, which the heavenly Bodies have and hold in the &s;ub&s;tances that are corporeal.</HI> We may lawfully, and without impeach|ment of our Duty, enquire into the <HI>Nature, Motions</HI> and <HI>Actions</HI> of the <HI>Angels:</HI> therefore we may lawfully, and without infringement of our obligations, enquire into the <HI>Nature, Motions</HI> and <HI>Actions</HI> of the <HI>Heavenly Bodies:</HI> And as that enquiry is <HI>harmle&s;s, u&s;eful,</HI> and <HI>pious;</HI> &s;o likewi&s;e is this: and the knowledge of the <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> is more noble then the knowledge of Earthly Things: and con&s;equently, the enquiry into tho&s;e, is more noble: becau&s;e tho&s;e are in them&s;elves more no|ble then the&s;e; as being <HI>incorruptible, immutable,</HI> and <HI>permanent. Aquinas</HI> in the &s;ame place, adorns and e|vens this Truth: <HI>E&s;t autem haec differentia inter Coele&s;tia &amp; terrena Corpora, qu&ograve;d corpora terrena per mutationem &amp;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">D. Tho. ubi &s;u|pra.</NOTE> <HI>motum adipi&s;cuntur &s;uam ultimam perfectionem; corpora ver&ograve; Coele&s;tia &s;tatim ex ip&s;&acirc; &s;u&acirc; Natur&acirc; &s;uam ultimam per|fectionem habent: The difference betwixt heavenly and ter|rene Bodies, is; that the terrene Bodies do obtain their la&s;t perfection by mutation and motion; but the heavenly Bo|dies, pre&s;ently by their very Nature, have and obtain their lo&s;t per&s;ection.</HI> And that this Argument may not want its colours and adornment on my part: The prai&s;es of God, which are occa&s;ioned by the knowledge of the <HI>cele&s;tial Bodies,</HI> as al&s;o his prai&s;es i&s;&s;uing occa&s;ionally from the knowledge of the Angels, are more <HI>loud</HI> and
<PB N="8" REF="10"> <HI>&s;ounding:</HI> to prai&s;e God upon the&s;e <HI>Subjects,</HI> being in a manner, to <HI>prai&s;e him upon the loud cymbals, upon the high-&s;ounding</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 150. 5.</NOTE> <HI>cymbals.</HI></P>
<P>Beyond all this: The Heavens follow the Angels, even as they are di&s;tingui&s;hed in their <HI>Work</HI> or <HI>Office.</HI> For, as of the Angels, &s;ome are <HI>mini&s;trantes, mini&s;tring Spirits;</HI> &s;ome <HI>a&s;&s;i&s;tentes, a&s;&s;i&s;ting;</HI> who are not <HI>&s;ent,</HI> but attend alwayes upon God in Heaven: &s;o among&s;t the <HI>heavenly Bodies,</HI> be&s;ides tho&s;e which are determin'd <HI>ad mini&s;terium Generationum, to the mini&s;tery of inferiour Ge|nerations;</HI> there is a Heaven appointed onely, that the holy Spirits and men may therein for ever wait, and at|tend upon God; to wit, the <HI>Empyreal Heaven,</HI> which is immoveable, and &s;o called from its <HI>fiery &s;plendor.</HI> And therefore the likene&s;s and agreement betwixt the <HI>An|gels</HI> and <HI>heavenly Bodies,</HI> (though the things differ in their kindes) is more then ordinary: and as tho&s;e being Spirits, admit of a di&s;qui&s;ition; &s;o do the&s;e much more, being Bodies.</P>
<P>I prove it again by <HI>Rea&s;on.</HI> As every <HI>Agent</HI> hath a mo&s;t <HI>proper Act,</HI> (the mo&s;t <HI>proper Act</HI> of Fire, being an <HI>active Sub&s;tance,</HI> is to burn; of Light, being an <HI>active Quality,</HI> is to illuminate or enlighten; of God, who is <HI>Actus purus, a pure act,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, &s;aith <HI>Syne&s;ius, to</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Syne&s;. in Sen|tentiis.</NOTE> <HI>do good</HI>) &s;o every <HI>Agent (Celestial e&s;pecially</HI>) hath a cir|cum&s;tance of <HI>time,</HI> in the which its <HI>operation</HI> is mo&s;t po|tent and vigorous, and in the which it mo&s;t &s;hineth forth. Now the Stars are powerful <HI>Agents,</HI> yea, glorious Monuments of God's power; and yet, neither the <HI>proper act</HI> of every one in its kinde, (or as compared with others) nor the <HI>circum&s;tance of time</HI> wherein their <HI>Operation</HI> is mo&s;t <HI>predominant;</HI> by all which, God's Power, and other <HI>divine Attributes</HI> offer them&s;elves to be farther di&s;covered; can be known or di&s;covered <HI>ad majorem Dei gloriam: to the greater glory of God,</HI> with|out a vigilant enquiry. And why he &s;hould not en|quire, whom <HI>Plato</HI> rightly calls <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>an heavenly</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Plato in Timaeo.</NOTE> <HI>Plant;</HI> and to whom therefore <HI>Philo</HI> (the <HI>Jewi&s;h Plato</HI>)
<PB N="9" REF="10"> a&s;&s;igns <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>heavenly nouri&s;hment; Rea&s;on</HI> can|not &s;ee a Rea&s;on.</P>
<P>I confirm it. As there is no <HI>pa&s;&s;ive power,</HI> which hath not an <HI>active power</HI> an&s;wering to it, and bending towards it: So there is nothing <HI>&s;cibile, cogno&s;cible,</HI> or <HI>able to be known,</HI> to the which an <HI>intellective</HI> and <HI>cog|no&s;citive power</HI> doth not an&s;wer. Which <HI>power,</HI> though it neither doth, nor &s;hall perhaps <HI>actually know,</HI> the Things <HI>cogno&s;cible</HI> by it, (in which &s;en&s;e, <HI>Intelligere e&s;t quoddam pati, to under&s;tand is in &s;ome kinde pa&s;&s;ive;</HI> and as there is <HI>intellectus agens, an agent under&s;tanding,</HI> &s;o there is <HI>intellectus patiens, an under&s;tanding that is patient;</HI>) yet is in an active readine&s;s to know them. Otherwi&s;e, <HI>Fru|&s;tr&agrave; e&s;&s;et potentia, quae reduci non po&s;&s;et in actum: The power would truely be vain in re&s;pect of &s;uch and &s;uch things, which being referred to them, could not be reduced into act:</HI> and there would be <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>a great Cha&s;m</HI> in Nature. And when we &s;peak of <HI>powers active</HI> and <HI>pa&s;&s;ive,</HI> we intend all &s;uch powers, betwixt which there is a <HI>fit proportion.</HI> And humane under&s;tanding <HI>propor|tionably</HI> an&s;wers to <HI>material Things.</HI> Indeed, Many Things are hidden from us in the belly of the Earth, and in the womb of the Sea; and we know them not, be|cau&s;e there is <HI>vel impedimentum ex parte medii, vel de|fectus ob indebitam di&s;tantiam, vel tand&egrave;m utrum&abque;: Either an impediment in the medium,</HI> as being ob&s;tipated, <HI>or a defect by rea&s;on of undue di&s;tance, or both;</HI> and thus they are withdrawn from our &s;en&s;e: whereas, <HI>Omnis cognitio &agrave; &s;en&s;u initium habet: all knowledge of &s;en&s;ible things, begins in the &s;en&s;e.</HI> But in the night, the great Curtain is drawn, and the <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> are vi&s;ible, either in them|&s;elves or by In&s;truments: and we are then, as it were,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 5. 8.</NOTE> allured <HI>to &s;eek him that maketh the &s;even Stars and Orion.</HI></P>
<P>Be it confe&s;&s;ed, That we &s;eek God in &s;ome &s;ort, if we look upon the&s;e Creatures afar off; and thence admire, and love God. But we have no limits given to us, when we &s;eek God in his Creatures: and there|fore, we &s;eek him in a more excellent manner, when
<PB N="10" REF="11"> we &s;eek him through more and more <HI>effects</HI> and <HI>works</HI> of his <HI>Power, Wi&s;dom, Perfection, Government,</HI> &amp;c. E|&s;pecially, when we behold through all the kindes of Things, that God <HI>moves</HI> and governs <HI>inferiora per &s;upe|riora: inferiour Things by Things which are &s;uperiour:</HI> The Truth of which appeared, as many other excellent Truths al&s;o did, to the Athei&s;tical Brain of <HI>Galen</HI> him&s;elf:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Galenus, lib. 3. cap. 1. De Die|bus decretoriis.</NOTE> who confidently &s;aith: <HI>Omnia haec inferiora &agrave; Coele&s;tibus vim accipiunt, &amp; certo ordine modo&abque; gubernantur: All the&s;e inferiour Things receive their force from the Things which are &s;uperior and Cele&s;tial, and in a certain order and manner are governed by them.</HI> Let it go again, <HI>pro conce&s;&s;o, for a Thing granted;</HI> that, as Stars, which have the lea&s;t Circuit, are the neere&s;t to the Pole; &s;o Men, who are lea&s;t perplexed with temporalities, are commonly the neere&s;t to God. But I &s;uppo&s;e that this Enquiry, is a <HI>pious</HI> and earne&s;t <HI>&s;eeking</HI> of God in more and more Rea&s;ons an&s;wering to his <HI>Attributes:</HI> and that there|by the Student is enabled, as he is a Member and Part of a Chri&s;tian Society, to mini&s;ter helps to his Brethren, which to the pre&s;ent evils are <HI>therapeutica, medicinal;</HI> and <HI>prophylactica, pre&s;ervative,</HI> in regard of the future. For, as God in the giving of his <HI>&s;piritual Gifts</HI> and <HI>Graces,</HI> wills &amp; intends that all po&s;&s;ible good &s;hould be reaped by them; &s;o in the propo&s;ition of his <HI>material Works</HI> and <HI>Gifts,</HI> he wills and intends them to be known, as far as our knowing and under&s;tanding Ve&s;&s;els are ca|pable, if our knowledge ends in him and in his prai&s;es.</P>
<P>Thirdly, I prove it from the evils, which have <HI>directly</HI> and lineally en&s;ued, where this Enquiry was not made. No Man that hath ta&s;ted Learning, is ignorant of the great Evils which have en&s;ued in the World, by rea&s;on that the <HI>Eclip&s;es</HI> of the Sun and Moon, and the cau&s;es of them, were not ju&s;tly under&s;tood. Let it pa&s;s, that whole Armies have been terrified and degraded from their de&s;igns. Every Waiter at the Door of the School, knows, that the people in the <HI>Eclip&s;es</HI> of the Moon, made horrible noi&s;es and out-cries, thinking thereby to
<PB N="11" REF="11"> &s;upport and cheri&s;h her in her <HI>labour.</HI> The Chri&s;tians them&s;elves were grievou&s;ly infected with this abomi|nable Super&s;tition, as we finde in <HI>Maximus Taurinen&s;is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Max. Taur. Hom de defectu Lunae. S. Aug. &s;erm. 215. de temp. S. Ambr. &s;erm. 4.</NOTE> and in Saint <HI>Austin.</HI> Saint <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> is as much troubled as the Moon in her <HI>Eclip&s;e,</HI> and &s;harply chides the &s;u|per&s;titious people, who thought, that the <HI>Moon eclip&s;ed</HI> was in great danger of falling; and who did therefore make a noi&s;e, hoping therewith to animate, help, and uphold her; and le&s;t hearing the charms of Witches, &s;he &s;hould by the &s;ecret power of them, be &s;educed and enticed out of her <HI>Sphere.</HI> Had the Rea&s;on of an <HI>E|clip&s;e, Solar</HI> or <HI>Lunar,</HI> been wi&s;ely declared to any of the&s;e people, <HI>Heatheni&s;h</HI> or <HI>Chri&s;tian,</HI> by men learned and skilful in the <HI>Nature</HI> and <HI>Motions</HI> of the <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> or <HI>Lights,</HI> as they are <HI>Signs;</HI> God had not been di&s;honoured by this mo&s;t impious and filthy Super&s;titi|on. <HI>Maximus,</HI> Saint <HI>Austin,</HI> Saint <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> and ma|ny others, otherwi&s;e taught the Chri&s;tian people, as their pious Writings te&s;tifie: but, <HI>fools hate knowledge:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1. 22.</NOTE> and Ignorance is the Mother of Super&s;tition: and the <HI>Fathers</HI> were alwayes interpreted by the people, to &s;peak of &s;uch Things, more piou&s;ly, then &s;olidly and knowingly. A known and profe&s;&s;ed <HI>Astrologer</HI> would have ea&s;ily in|vaded their Hearts. Moreover: Had the&s;e <HI>Eclip&s;es</HI> been learnedly fore&s;een, the people would have been pre|pared by a <HI>Prediction,</HI> to receive them as agreeable to Nature. But the wi&s;e&s;t of people in tho&s;e dayes, being deficient in the <HI>progno&s;is,</HI> could not &s;o per|fectly repair the breaches in the <HI>diagno&s;is.</HI></P>
<P>This Heatheni&s;h Practi&s;e expoundeth a Text in Holy Scripture, which hath been hitherto managed again&s;t <HI>Astrology;</HI> but indeed proves and pleads for it, if an|nexed unto this practi&s;e of the &s;educed people. <HI>Learn</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 10. 2.</NOTE> <HI>not the way of the heathen, and be not di&s;mayed at the &s;igns of heaven; for the heathen are di&s;mayed at them: for the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 3.</NOTE> <HI>cu&s;toms of the people are vain.</HI> The <HI>Latine</HI> a&s;cribeth: Juxta vias Gentium nolite di&s;cere: &amp; &agrave; &s;ignis Coeli nolite me|tuere,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Edit. Latin.</NOTE> quae timent Gentes: <HI>Learn ye not, according to the
<PB N="12" REF="12"> way of the Gentiles: neither fear ye any thing injected from the &s;igns of heaven, which the Gentiles fear.</HI> That is, Ca&s;t away cau&s;ele&s;s fear, when the <HI>heavenly Signs</HI> frown, and &s;eem dark and troubled; and entertain the Vertue of <HI>Fortitude,</HI> oppo&s;ed to the <HI>Fear</HI> which becomes not the <HI>people of God.</HI></P>
<P>Yea, <HI>Ludovicus Vives,</HI> the Interpreter of Saint <HI>Au|&s;tin,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lud. Viv. in lib. 10. de Civit. Dei, cap. 16.</NOTE> relates of an A&s;s in his time, which drinking in a River, when the Moon crept under a Cloud, was thought by the people, to have drunk up the Moon; and was therefore impri&s;on'd, arraign'd before a Judge, ca&s;t by &s;ufficient Witne&s;&s;es, condemn'd, and rip'd up, that he might re&s;tore the Moon to the World. Ye have in this Hi&s;tory, more then one A&s;s. This egregious and mo&s;t ab&s;urd act of Ignorance and Folly, was com|mitted; becau&s;e that part of the World was not &s;o rich, as to have an <HI>Astrologer.</HI> Who&s;e enquiry in this re&s;pect, would have been <HI>harmle&s;s, u&s;eful,</HI> and <HI>pious.</HI></P>
<P>Again, I prove it from evils, en&s;uing the relap&s;e of this enquiry. Among&s;t the many &s;en&s;ele&s;s errours wherewith <HI>Mahomet</HI> hath contaminated and polluted the World, by the pe&s;tilential Air of his <HI>Alco|ran;</HI> tho&s;e hold up the head, which concern the Heavens.</P>
<P><HI>Mahomet</HI> preacheth from his <HI>Alcoran:</HI> That the<NOTE PLACE="marg">Vide Alcora|num ubi haec &amp; huj&uacute;&s;modi plu|ra, &s;par&s;a &s;unt per librum to|tum.</NOTE> Heavens are &s;u&s;tained, le&s;t they &s;hould fall, by the <HI>Moun|tain Caf;</HI> and that by the <HI>repercu&s;&s;ion</HI> of the colour of the Mountain, they become Azure-coloured: That the Stars are bound with golden Chains, fa&s;tned to the <HI>Throne of God:</HI> That the Moon fell to the ground in his dayes, and was broken into parts with the fall: and that he imbracing the parts, rejoyned them into one, and then repos'd the Moon in its heavenly Man&s;ion; and that therefore the Moon hath <HI>Maculas, &s;pots:</HI> That in the beginning of the World, the Moon enjoyed light equal with the Sun; but the mo&s;t glorious part of it was extingui&s;hed with the Wings of the Angel
<PB N="13" REF="12"> <HI>Gabriel,</HI> imprudently flying in a full career, through it; and that therefore now it &s;hines dimly. The <HI>Thalmu|dists</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Talmudi&s;tae in Talmud.</NOTE> have likewi&s;e tre&s;pa&s;&s;ed in this kinde.</P>
<P>Truely, Had there been knowing and prudent <HI>Astro|logers</HI> in <HI>Arabia,</HI> when <HI>Mahomet</HI> was now ari&s;ing or a&s;cending in his <HI>Horizon,</HI> as there were at other times; they might have happily with&s;tood and &s;uppre&s;s'd him, and prevented this horrible inundation of error and bla&s;phemy, wherewith many gay parts of the World have been overwhelmed by him. But <HI>Arabia Felix</HI> was not then &s;o happy. The <HI>Mahumetan A&s;trologers Al|farabius, Albumazar, Haly,</HI> were engaged: <HI>Averroes</HI> re|coil'd: <HI>The like proportionably</HI> may be &s;aid of the <HI>Thal|mudi&s;ts.</HI> God complaineth, and threatneth: <HI>My peo|ple</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;. 4. 6.</NOTE> <HI>are de&s;troyed for lack of knowledge: becau&s;e thou ha&s;t rejected knowledge, I will reject thee.</HI> This is cleer: other proofs will engage me longer.</P>
<P>Fourthly, I prove it by <HI>Scripture. The heavens declare</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 19. 1.</NOTE> <HI>the glory of God, and the firmament &s;heweth his handy-work. Day unto day uttereth &s;peech, and night unto night &s;heweth</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 2.</NOTE> <HI>knowledge.</HI> The <HI>Latine</HI> &s;anctifieth: <HI>Opera manuum ejus an|nunciat</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Edit. vulgata.</NOTE> <HI>firmamentum: The firmament, wherein the fixed Stars are, annunciates and tells the works of his hands, to &s;ome that piou&s;ly and &s;eriou&s;ly attend to &s;uch telling or annun|tiation.</HI> And afterwards: <HI>Nox nocti indicat &s;cientiam: One night &s;hews and reads a Science to another. Sience</HI> here reflects upon &s;uch as are capable of it, and acquire <HI>it by the multiplication of agreeable Acts:</HI> who comparing <HI>night</HI> with <HI>night,</HI> and the <HI>heavenly cau&s;es</HI> with their <HI>ef|fects,</HI> imbibe the <HI>Sience</HI> of <HI>Astrology;</HI> and who, the more they know of <HI>night</HI> and <HI>night,</HI> and of the <HI>connexion</HI> betwixt the <HI>cau&s;es</HI> and their <HI>effects,</HI> the more admire God in his Works, and the more declare God and his Works to others: adding to the <HI>thing done,</HI> the very<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judg. 5. 20.</NOTE> <HI>manner of its doing;</HI> as, how <HI>the Stars in their cour&s;es fought again&s;t Si&s;era.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Platoni&s;ts</HI> imagin'd, the Heavens to have been <HI>animate;</HI> and that the Sun, Moon and Stars were fiery,
<PB N="14" REF="13"> and were therefore nouri&s;hed and fed with vapours; fire wanting and requiring its food and nouri&s;hment. The <HI>Ari&s;totelians</HI> or <HI>Peripateticks</HI> allowed <HI>Intelligences</HI> of their own making, to turn and whirl about the <HI>Ce|lestial Orbs;</HI> and to be one with them, not by <HI>compo&s;i|tion,</HI> but by <HI>aggregation.</HI> Others out of <HI>Zeno</HI>'s Porch, threw their judgements here and there: He that will admire and <HI>declare</HI> God in conformity to the Truth of his <HI>Creation,</HI> mu&s;t con&s;ult with <HI>Scripture</HI> and <HI>A&s;tro|logy.</HI></P>
<P>In Chri&s;tian earne&s;t: &s;uch a multitude of <HI>Heavens, Stars, Planets,</HI> moving &s;o &s;wiftly, &s;o contrarily, &s;o neer|ly the one to the other, and with &s;uch continual vari|ery of <HI>Effects;</HI> the <HI>Order, Concord, Subordination,</HI> and Wonderfulne&s;s, is, notwith&s;tanding &s;uch, that in <HI>declar|ing the glory of God,</HI> they very much out-&s;trip all <HI>inferiour Things:</HI> and therefore they who&s;e employments it is, to behold this <HI>Order, Concord, Subordination,</HI> and <HI>effectual Operation</HI> more neerly, are called to magnifie God in his Works, more tran&s;cendently then others who do not: <HI>Job</HI> admiring God in this <HI>Crder, Concord, Subordi|nation,</HI> and <HI>efficacy,</HI> cries out without a loud voice: <HI>Where is God my maker, who giveth &s;ongs in the night?</HI> The<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 35. 10.</NOTE> <HI>Latine</HI> prefers: <HI>Ubi e&s;t Deus, qui fecit me: qui ded it car|mina</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Edit. vulg.</NOTE> <HI>in nocte? Where is God, who hath made me: who gave ver&s;es in the night?</HI> He is more explicite in another place according to the vulgar <HI>Latine: Quis enarrabat Coe|lorum</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 38. 37. In|terp. vulgat.</NOTE> <HI>rationem, &amp; concentum</HI> (Hebr. <HI>Nabla) Coeli quis dormire faciet? Who will declare the &s;tate of the Heavens, and who will make the melody of the Heaven to &s;leep?</HI> He<NOTE PLACE="marg">See Cen&s;orinus de die natali, cap. 13. Cic. in &s;omnio Scipionis. S. Aug. Ep. 28. ad S. Hier. Leo Ca&s;tr. in I&s;aiae cap. 40. ver&s;. 26. Georg. Venet. in Harm.</NOTE> &s;eems to &s;peak after a <HI>five-years &s;ilence,</HI> as one of <HI>Pytha|goras</HI> his Scholars, who thought the Heavens to have been melodious in their <HI>motions:</HI> and that men are deaf to the Mu&s;ick by continual a&s;&s;uefaction, as they who dwell <HI>ad Nili Catadupa, where Nilus hath a terrible fall;</HI> as is ob&s;erved by <HI>Cicero.</HI> In good truth Saint <HI>Austin</HI> receives with embraces, the Doctrine of proper <HI>Mu&s;ick in the Heavens.</HI> So doth <HI>Leo Ca&s;trus:</HI> and &s;o <HI>Georgius
<PB N="15" REF="13"> Venetus.</HI> And Rea&s;on is favourable. Becau&s;e a &s;ound is cau&s;ed not only by the confrication of the Air, but al&s;o by the confrication of all re&s;i&s;ting <HI>Bodies. Philo</HI> the Jew<NOTE PLACE="marg">Philo Jud. lib. de Somniis.</NOTE> in his <HI>Book of Dreams,</HI> dreams it out, That the Mu&s;ick and Harmony of the <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> and <HI>Orbs,</HI> &s;erves in the place of Meat unto tho&s;e who hear it; and that <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was fed therewith in his long-fa&s;ting. But <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> and the <HI>Philo&s;ophers</HI> his <HI>Followers,</HI> reject all this Doctrine as<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ari&s;t. lib. 2. de Calo.</NOTE> out of tune. And it is mo&s;t fa&s;hionable to Rea&s;on, That <HI>Job</HI> by Mu&s;ick and Melody, under&s;tands the <HI>Concord,</HI> and mo&s;t <HI>ordinate motions</HI> and cour&s;es of the Heavens, toge|ther with the &s;weet compliance betwixt the <HI>cau&s;es</HI> and their <HI>effects.</HI> Wherefore <HI>Plato</HI> is opinionated, Eyes were therefore chiefly given to us, that &s;eeing the mo&s;t regular<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plat. in Tim. co.</NOTE> <HI>motions</HI> of the <HI>heavenly bodies,</HI> we might traduce them to the di&s;cipline of our lives, and to the correction of our wandring and <HI>erratical motions.</HI> And infallibly the rea|&s;onable Soul returns and reduces all the Creatures to their <HI>fir&s;t Principle,</HI> God, by her admiring God in them, and her prai&s;ing God for them: and the more know|ledge we have of the Things for which we prai&s;e God, the more we prai&s;e him with <HI>under&s;tanding.</HI></P>
<P>I prove it by Scripture the &s;econd time. <HI>He appointed</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104. 19.</NOTE> <HI>the Moon for &s;ea&s;ons.</HI> This place (being like a Star, which is <HI>den&s;ior pars &s;ui orbis: the more thick and lucid part of its Orb</HI>) is excellently co-incident with my Text. A&s;&s;ured|ly: By how much the Moon is better known, by &s;o much are the Sea&s;ons more &s;ea&s;onable, and by &s;o much is this Appointment, and the Author of it, more ad|mired. For it is like a Rock in Divinity: He mo&s;t ad|mires and prai&s;es God, (<HI>caeteris paribus: if other things concur</HI>) that &s;ees not the Things onely, but al&s;o the Rea&s;ons of them.</P>
<P>We all &s;ee the Moon afar off, and the Variations of it. But he who &s;ees, that the Moon being in the la&s;t, lea&s;t, and lowe&s;t Orb, runs it in a &s;hort time, and there|fore, looks diver&s;ly upon the Sun, and varies in the borrowing of its light, being for this cau&s;e now horned,
<PB N="16" REF="14"> now half-full, now full and whole; &s;ees more of God, and of his wondrous Works and Appointments, then the Pygmies of men do; and is a kinde of a Giant, or rather, another <HI>Atlas.</HI></P>
<P>We all &s;ee, That the Moon &s;hines to us, and keeps her Sea&s;ons. But he who beholds, that, although it &s;hines to us, it &s;hines not upwards; as being not illu|minated in the &s;uperiour part, but onely inferiourly; doth &s;ee more neerly and cleerly, That the <HI>heavenly Bo|dies,</HI> although &s;o high, trim, and glorious, were made for us, low Creatures, and for our u&s;e.</P>
<P>We all &s;ee the Moon in the full, and when &s;he mo&s;t &s;hines. But he who &s;ees in the original, that the Moon does then &s;hine mo&s;t, when it is mo&s;t di&s;tant and remote from the Sun; and that, when it comes neer to the Sun, it is ob&s;cured; di&s;covers more of God's Appointment, and is more furni&s;hed with <HI>harm|le&s;s, u&s;eful,</HI> and <HI>pious con&s;iderations,</HI> then down-looking per&s;ons.</P>
<P>Finally, We all &s;ee, That the Moon receives many Changes: But he who findes, according co <HI>Hippocrates</HI> and <HI>Galen;</HI> that the Moon, becau&s;e it receives many<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hippocr. lib. de Judiciis infir|mitatum. Galen initio Dierum Criticorum.</NOTE> Changes and <HI>Eclip&s;es,</HI> inclines men upon whom it hath <HI>influence,</HI> to be uncon&s;tant and un&s;table, and to rejoyce in various Studies and Things, will have more cau&s;e to pull up his Heart into one, and to &s;trive again&s;t the Moon and its <HI>influence,</HI> by the help of holy <HI>grace,</HI> which is more neer, more precious, and more power|ful then the Sun, Moon and all the Stars; and is able to remove the <HI>Selenites</HI> out of his Heart.</P>
<P>Saint <HI>Bonaventure</HI> Ilu&s;trates this Truth: <HI>Frequent&egrave;r A&s;trologi vera praedicunt, maxim&egrave; circa Homines animali|t&egrave;r</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">See Plin. lib. 36. cap. 10. S. Bo|navent in 4 Sent. Di&s;t. 14. que&s;t. 3. num. 80</NOTE> <HI>viventes: circa ver&ograve; &s;piritualit&egrave;r &s;apientes qui dominan|tur pa&s;&s;ionibus, pauca po&s;&s;unt vera praedicere: Hic (ut ait Ptolomaeus) &s;apiens dominabitur A&s;tris. The A&s;trologers oftentimes fore-tell true things, e&s;pecially concerning men that live carnally: But concerning men &s;piritually-wi&s;e, who govern their pa&s;&s;ions, they can fore-tell but few Truths:
<PB N="17" REF="14"> This wi&s;e man (as Ptolomeus &s;ayes) will exerci&s;e dominion over the Stars.</HI> But with his leave, even then they fore|tell Truth, according to <HI>Nature,</HI> though not an&s;wera|bly to <HI>Grace. The History of</HI> Socrates <HI>and</HI> Zopyrus is found on every hedge. <HI>Bugufarus</HI> him&s;elf, con&s;ents in the <HI>&s;ub&s;tantials:</HI> Homo &s;apiens &amp; juvat &amp; impedit Coe|le&s;tem<NOTE PLACE="marg">Augu&s;. in Com|men. &s;uper C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> loquium Pto|lomaei.</NOTE> effectum, ex virtute &s;apientiae quae e&s;t in eo. <HI>A wi&s;e man both helps and hinders the heavenly effects, by vertue of the wi&s;dom which is in him.</HI></P>
<P>Fifthly, I prove it upon this account, that Scripture cannot be rightly under&s;tood without enquiry made into <HI>Astrology.</HI> It is written in the Prophet <HI>Amos,</HI> where<NOTE PLACE="marg">Amos 5. 26.</NOTE> <HI>Moloch</HI> is introduced: <HI>the Star of your God, which ye made to your &s;elves.</HI> It is nece&s;&s;ary, for the right and full under&s;tanding of this place, that it be known what Star this was, what Star in Heaven it re&s;embled, and what likewi&s;e is the nature, power and work of that Star. It was a Jewel made Star-wi&s;e, and gloriou&s;ly &s;et in the forehead of the Idol <HI>Moloch.</HI> It re&s;embled the Star called <HI>Lucifer.</HI> Which Star is al&s;o named in the Prophet <HI>Jeremy,</HI> (and here al&s;o there is want of &s;uc|cour<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer 7. 18.</NOTE> from <HI>Astrology,) The Queen of Heaven:</HI> The Ver&s;e runs: <HI>The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Lucifer,</HI> if we con&s;ider it onely as a vi&s;ible Star in Heaven, is, as Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> de&s;cribes it, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Ba&s;il. Hom. 2. in Hexam.</NOTE> <HI>faire&s;t of all Stars.</HI> And although the <HI>Lights</HI> which are neere&s;t to the Earth, have, in re&s;pect of their neerne&s;s to it, a great <HI>influence</HI> upon it: yet the fair and great <HI>Lights,</HI> in regard of their greatne&s;s and fairne&s;s, &s;upply their own wants, as being remote; and their <HI>influences</HI> are more noble.</P>
<P>Yea, the <HI>influences</HI> of <HI>Lucifer,</HI> are &s;o eminently no|ble and powerful, that Saint <HI>Peter,</HI> (certainly for &s;ome excellent rea&s;on) calls <HI>divine Grace,</HI> (that unites us with God) <HI>Lucifer,</HI> in the&s;e words: <HI>Until the day dawn, and</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1. 19. Edit. Lat.</NOTE> <HI>the day-&s;tar ari&s;e in your hearts.</HI> The <HI>Latine</HI> offereth: <HI>Do|nec
<PB N="18" REF="15"> dies eluce&s;cat, &amp; Lucifer oriatur in cordibus ve&s;tris: Until the day begin to &s;hine, and Lucifer ari&s;e in your hearts.</HI> The <HI>Greek</HI> pre&s;ents the later part: <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>and Lucifer ari&s;e from the east in your</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Text Graec. Interp. Syt.</NOTE> <HI>hearts.</HI> (The <HI>Syriack</HI> leaves <HI>Lucifer</HI> and takes the <HI>Sun.</HI>) The likene&s;s of power betwixt <HI>Grace</HI> and <HI>Lucifer,</HI> is manifold: they both move to <HI>cheerfulne&s;s</HI> and <HI>heroical performance:</HI> they move both to the love of <HI>light,</HI> and cau&s;e in us a <HI>horrour of darkne&s;s:</HI> they both move to the di&s;like of all ba&s;e and ignoble <HI>actions,</HI> &amp;c. Neither is this Text (ye &s;ee) gra&s;p'd and comprehended, if <HI>A&s;tro|logy</HI> be mi&s;&s;ing.</P>
<P>In this con&s;ideration, Saint <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> expounding a place in <HI>Job,</HI> where the <HI>&s;acred Text</HI> mentions the <HI>&s;weet influ|ences</HI> of the <HI>Pleiades,</HI> and <HI>Orion;</HI> &s;aith: <HI>Nam &amp; A&s;tro|logia</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 38. 31. <HI>S. Aug. in illud Jobi.</HI></NOTE> <HI>per&s;crutanda est, ad cogno&s;cendum proprietates i&s;torum &s;yderum, ut hunc locum intelligere po&s;&s;imus. We mu&s;t dili|gently &s;earch into A&s;trology, that we may know the properties of the&s;e Stars, and under&s;tand the place.</HI></P>
<P>Once more I prove it, from this Head and Source: It is propos'd by the <HI>Ea&s;tern Magi: We have &s;een his</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 2. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Star in the Ea&s;t, and we are come to wor&s;hip him.</HI> It fol|lows in due time: <HI>Lo, the Star which they &s;aw in the Ea&s;t</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 9.</NOTE> <HI>went before them, till it came, and &s;tood over the place where the young child was.</HI> The&s;e Texts have been a Rock of offence, and &s;tumbling-block, when a&s;&s;aulted by ve&s;&s;els empty of <HI>A&s;trology. Cardinal Bellarmine,</HI> &s;peaking of<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bellarm. lib. de Scriptorib. Ec|cle&s;ia&s;ticis. See Sixtus Se|nen&s;is lib. 5. Bi|bliothecae &s;an|ctae, annotat. 15. &amp; 81. &amp; lib. 6. annotat. 10.</NOTE> <HI>Petrus ab Alliaco, Cardinal</HI> and <HI>Archbi&s;hop of Cambray,</HI> atte&s;teth: <HI>Unum e&s;t, in quo reprehenditur hic Auctor, qu&ograve;d videlic&egrave;t &s;en&s;i&s;&s;e videatur, Chri&s;ti nativitatem praeno&s;ci potui&s;&s;e ex genethliacis ob&s;ervationibus, at&abque; ad hoc adduxerit apparitionem Stellae, quae apparuit Magis. There is one thing, for which this Author is reprehended; that is, becau&s;e he &s;oemed to have thought</HI> (he &s;peaks tenderly, in regard he was his brother <HI>Cardinal) that Chri&s;t's Nativity could be foreknown from genethliacal ob&s;ervations; and to the proof of this, brought the apparition of the Star which appeared to the Magi.</HI> If <HI>Petrus ab Alliaco</HI> had in the lea&s;t manner,
<PB N="19" REF="15"> been refre&s;hed from the liquid Fountains of <HI>A&s;trology,</HI> he might have found with ea&s;e, that this <HI>Star</HI> of the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI> was not of the Stars in Heaven, but one moved in the Air, and formed for this purpo&s;e; that it might with more aptne&s;s, direct the <HI>Wi&s;e-men,</HI> and de&s;ign the place where the Babe was. He might have known likewi&s;e, had he been a <HI>Cardinal</HI> in Learning, that a heavenly Star could not be widdow'd from her Orb, nor have room to move &s;o neer the Earth; and that the &s;en&s;e of the Text, <HI>the Stars &s;hall fall from Heaven,</HI> ri&s;es<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 24, 29.</NOTE> <HI>above the letter:</HI> and that a Star among&s;t the Stars, could not in a proper &s;en&s;e, be called <HI>Chri&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s Star.</HI> Ignorance of <HI>A&s;trology</HI> ingulf'd <HI>Petrus ab Alliaco</HI> almo&s;t into as great a depth of madne&s;s, as that into which <HI>Cardanus</HI> was plung'd; who pry'd into the <HI>Horo&s;cope of Chri&s;t;</HI> and taking his guidance from the po&s;ition of the Stars in his Nativity, and from certain fini&s;ter <HI>A&s;pects,</HI> born when Chri&s;t was born, foretold in a kinde, it was his fate to die upon the Cro&s;s. I will not be pre&s;umptuous; and &s;ay, that <HI>Cardanus</HI> was ignorant of <HI>A&s;trology,</HI> but I will take heart to &s;ay, that his Judgement upon this <HI>Scheme</HI> was over-curious; and that all <HI>Sciences</HI> have their mode&s;t limits, as they are hand maids to Diviuity.</P>
<P><HI>Petrus ab Alliaco</HI> &s;hould have con&s;idered, that the Stars go in a brotherly manner from Ea&s;t to We&s;t: whenas this Star travelled alone from Ea&s;t to South; that this Star maintained its light in the Day, the Sun looking on it, and &s;hining; that it withdrew, and re|turned, as the bu&s;ine&s;s moved, upon which it waited; and that it walk'd in the lower Region of the Air. And verily, God leading the <HI>Magi</HI> or <HI>Wi&s;e-men</HI> to Chri&s;t by a <HI>Star,</HI> as mo&s;t attemperable to them; ju&s;tified their <HI>Ob&s;ervation</HI> and u&s;e <HI>of the Stars:</HI> as likewi&s;e, he directed the Shepherds to Chri&s;t, by the <HI>Apparition of Angels;</HI> the <HI>Apparition of Angels</HI> being common and holy to the Jews.</P>
<P>Let me affix here: tho&s;e Texts in the Go&s;pel, which treat of lunatick per&s;ons, cannot be fathomed, if the<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 4. 24.</NOTE>
<PB N="20" REF="16"> knowledge of <HI>A&s;trology</HI> be &s;ecluded. For, as <HI>Aquinas</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 17. 15. <HI>D. Tho. p. 1. qu. 115. Art. 5. Arg. 1.</HI></NOTE> wi&s;ely di&s;covers: <HI>Daemones &s;ecund&ugrave;m certa augmenta Lunae aliquos homines vexant: qui &amp; propter hoc lunatici dicuntur. The Devils do vex &s;ome po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed per&s;ons, accor|ding to certain augmentations of the Moon, who there|fore are called lunatick.</HI> And this they did for two Rea|&s;ons: fir&s;t, that they might throw a di&s;honour upon the Moon as the Creature of God. This Rea&s;on is own'd by Saint <HI>Hierom,</HI> and Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom.</HI> Second|ly,<NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Hierom. ad 4. cap. Matth. S. Chry&s;o&s;t. hom. 58. in Matth. Ari&s;t. lib. de &s;omn. &amp; vigil. cap. 5.</NOTE> Becau&s;e the Devils cannot work but by the <HI>mediation</HI> of natural things and vertues; and the Brain being the moi&s;te&s;t part of Man's Body, according to <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> and therefore e&s;pecially, &s;ubjected to the Operation of the Moon, which is <HI>Domina humorum &amp; humidorum: the Lady and Governe&s;s of humours and humid things;</HI> the Devils mole&s;t and trouble the Fancy, in the &s;ecret times, wherein the Moon and the Brain mo&s;t concur in the application of Active to Pa&s;&s;ive, and the Brain is mo&s;t di&s;po&s;ed to receive the impre&s;&s;ions and <HI>influences</HI> of the Moon.</P>
<P>Sixthly, I prove it: Becau&s;e the knowledge of <HI>A|&s;trology,</HI> admini&s;ters nece&s;&s;ary help to the <HI>Body of Di|vinity;</HI> and very much illu&s;trates, yea, confirms the chief and bottom-Doctrines of it: there being a &s;trict <HI>Concatenation,</HI> as in <HI>Vertues</HI> and <HI>Sciences,</HI> &s;o in the <HI>Works</HI> and <HI>Ways of God</HI> among&s;t them&s;elves and with them.</P>
<P>That part of <HI>divine providence,</HI> which we call <HI>Election</HI> and <HI>Prede&s;tination,</HI> although it be efficacious, doth not altogether infringe humane Liberty; becau&s;e it onely determines <HI>in &s;en&s;u compo&s;ito, in a compounded &s;en&s;e;</HI> as &s;uppo&s;ing the <HI>compo&s;ition of our concur&s;e with the decree of God;</HI> even then when to divide, falls into the <HI>may</HI> and <HI>can</HI> of humane Arbitrement. True it is, if the <HI>Love of friend&s;hip</HI> in God, (which he can exerci&s;e onely to|wards rea&s;onable Creatures, whereas others are not capable of <HI>elevation</HI> &s;ufficient to &s;uch <HI>friend&s;hip</HI>) or the <HI>benevolence</HI> of God be <HI>efficacious affectively,</HI> it is al&s;o
<PB N="21" REF="16"> always <HI>efficacious effectively:</HI> what&s;oever the Reprobates can do with their <HI>helps</HI> either <HI>phy&s;ically</HI> or <HI>morally.</HI> Yet <HI>Liberty</HI> is not impeded, becau&s;e the nighe&s;t power, which is the will of man, being the power from which <HI>Liberty</HI> takes its e&s;&s;ence and appellation, is alwayes in|different; even when the power, to which it is &s;ubor|dinated, moves this way or that way by predeterminati|on. (The Confirmation or Illu&s;tration de&s;cends from the Heavens.) And as that which the <HI>Philo&s;ophers</HI> and <HI>A&s;tro|logers</HI> call the <HI>&s;upreme Heaven,</HI> &s;o draws with it, all the in|feriour <HI>Orbs,</HI> that it neither breaks, &s;tops, not interrupts their <HI>proper motions</HI> and <HI>influences:</HI> &s;o God almighty draws all Things after his eternal Decree, and yet, neither ab|rogates, nor infringes the <HI>peculiar force, motion, influence,</HI> or <HI>oppo&s;ition</HI> of any Thing. Yea: this Divine-like and &s;upereminent kinde of <HI>motion,</HI> was betrothed to the <HI>&s;upreme Heaven,</HI> that it might be a mo&s;t high Emblem of the Divine Operation in re&s;pect of rea&s;onable and other Creatures. God &s;aid unto <HI>Abram: I am the Almighty</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 17. 1.</NOTE> <HI>God: walk before me, and be thou perfect.</HI> Which opens it &s;elf to receive this Paraphra&s;e: <HI>I move all by my power, at my plea&s;ure: But I leave thee as a free agent; and there|fore I lay my commandments upon thee: walk before me, and be thou perfect.</HI></P>
<P>If we remove this Theological Explication, a&s;&s;i&s;ted and &s;econded with its A&s;trological Illu&s;tration or Con|firmation, from this grand Matter in Divinity; the re|&s;ult, from God's ab&s;olute and irre&s;i&s;tible <HI>Decree,</HI> (as al|&s;o from that unchri&s;tian <HI>po&s;ition,</HI> which &s;ettles an irre&s;i&s;ti|ble, and compelling <HI>power,</HI> and <HI>influence</HI> of the Hea|vens,) will be, that <HI>God is the Author of &s;in.</HI> For: <HI>Opera magis ad imperantem &amp; congentem pertinent, qu&agrave;m ad exe|quentem: Works pertain more to him that commands and com|pels, then to him that executes.</HI></P>
<P>But as <HI>Fulgentius,</HI> who lived and &s;hone in a dark age, argues excellently: <HI>Deus non est Author ejus, cujus est</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Fulgent. lib. 1. ad in omnium Regem, cap. 19.</NOTE> <HI>&V;ltor: God is not the Author of that, of the which he is the Revenger.</HI> And Rea&s;on is wholly ours: For if God
<PB N="22" REF="17"> were the Author of &s;in, he were not <HI>&s;umm&egrave; Bonus, Good in the chiefe&s;t manner.</HI> The Con&s;equence hath <HI>Bones</HI> and <HI>&s;inews,</HI> Ex loco Cau&s;arum &amp; effectorum, <HI>from the Cau&s;es and their Effects:</HI> betwixt which, there mu&s;t be &s;ome kinde of proportion and &s;imilitude; which are not betwixt, <HI>Ens &s;umm&egrave; bonum &amp; pecatum, a Thing good in the chie&s;e&s;t manner, and &s;in.</HI> Becau&s;e &s;in, as &s;uch, hath no <HI>goodne&s;s</HI> in it &s;elf, neither hath it <HI>exi&s;tence,</HI> ut peccatum, <HI>as &s;in;</HI> &s;ed ut Ens, <HI>but as a Thing.</HI> It would likewi&s;e follow, that contradictory Propo&s;itions are both true: the&s;e A&s;&s;ertions containing an implicite Contradiction; <HI>to be God,</HI> and <HI>not to be mo&s;t excellently Good;</HI> that is, if we &s;peak out and explicitely, <HI>not to be God.</HI> And as the Author of &s;in cannot be good, &s;o neither can he be holy, ju&s;t, or the Judge of the World: which are God's e&s;&s;ential properties. Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> is the Author of a Homily beyond the ordinary level: wherein he throws this <HI>thunderbolt:</HI> Tantundem e&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Ba&s;il Hom. Quod Deus non &s;it Author pec|cati.</NOTE> Deum a&s;&s;erere e&s;&s;e Authorem peccati, &amp; negare e&s;&s;e Deum. <HI>It is as much to a&s;&s;ert God to be the Author of &s;in, as to deny him to be God.</HI> Yea: He that con&s;equentially makes God the <HI>Author of &s;in,</HI> makes our mo&s;t holy, mo&s;t pure, and mo&s;t ble&s;&s;ed Lord God, and gracious <HI>Father of mercies,</HI> wor&s;e then then the Devil: Becau&s;e<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 1. 3.</NOTE> the Devil tempteth onely, and per&s;wadeth to &s;in, and all his motions may be re&s;i&s;ted and ca&s;t off: But God, as the &s;purious Teachers and Carca&s;&s;es of Divines teach, willeth and procureth &s;in by a powerful, effectu|al, and irre&s;i&s;tible Decree; even as the degenera|ting and &s;purious <HI>A&s;trologer</HI> forceth our wills to it by an inviolable <HI>influence,</HI> to the which (he &s;aith) God hath nece&s;&s;arily obliged the Heavens. And the&s;e all avouch again&s;t the Axiom, <HI>the will to be compelled.</HI> But it is mo&s;t agreeable to the <HI>Secret of Symmetry,</HI> That they who have &s;inned away all Chri&s;tian Bowels, and are the high and mighty <HI>Scandalizers of Men,</HI> &s;hould highly <HI>&s;candalize the Almighty God</HI> al&s;o.</P>
<P>I prove again, That <HI>Astrology</HI> is an able a&s;&s;i&s;tant to
<PB N="23" REF="17"> the mo&s;t ab&s;tru&s;e part of Divinity; as being admirably proportioned to it, <HI>in materi&acirc; circa quam, in the matter concerning which it</HI> in part <HI>di&s;cour&s;eth.</HI> As appears al&s;o in a <HI>matter</HI> depending upon the former.</P>
<P>We may avoid all &s;ins, <HI>potestate antecedenti, by an an|tecedent power.</HI> The antecedent power is a power, having what&s;oever is antecedently nece&s;&s;ary to opera|tion, on our part, if the will con&s;enteth; or if the Will will not con&s;ent, what&s;oever is nece&s;&s;ary to fore|&s;tall and prevent operation. But we cannot avoid all &s;ins <HI>pote&s;tate con&s;equenti, by a con&s;equent and efficacious</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Aug. lib. 3. de lib. Arbitr. c. 17.</NOTE> <HI>power.</HI> It is the received Maxime of Saint <HI>Au&s;tin:</HI> Nemo peccat in eo quod vitare non pote&s;t. <HI>No man &s;ins in that which he cannot avoid.</HI> That is: <HI>which he cannot avoid,</HI> either at fir&s;t or la&s;t; either by precluding the way to &s;in, or by not yielding and con&s;enting when the temptation maketh its battery. Neither doth the <HI>pre&s;cience</HI> of God, impo&s;e a nece&s;&s;ity upon the Things fore-known by him. For: God fore-knows his own Acts, and yet he is a mo&s;t free Agent. And that the Things &s;o fore-known, cannot but happen in a manner as they are fore-known; the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e God fore-knowing them, doth not (if we &s;peak in rigour) fore-know them, but looks upon them as done and pre&s;ent; all things being pre&s;ent to him in eternity, which is <HI>Nunc &s;tans, a &s;tanding and immoveable Now.</HI> And when a Thing is now done and pre&s;ent, it cannot but be; yea, although otherwi&s;e compared to its <HI>cau&s;es,</HI> it is mo&s;t contingent: this being onely a <HI>hypothetical nece&s;&s;ity,</HI> not excluding <HI>contingency.</HI> So that God <HI>is mo&s;t pure and holy, and acquitted from being entangled in our errors.</HI></P>
<P>Students in <HI>A&s;trology</HI> have the Conclu&s;ion, wherein all the vertue of the Premi&s;es lies couched, render'd again to them in the way, as they look up, and al&s;o in the <HI>heavenly Bodies. God is mo&s;t pure, and holy,</HI> &amp;c. The &s;upreme part of the Air, which is neere&s;t to the Hea|vens, is far from troubles and di&s;orders; it is not drawn
<PB N="24" REF="18"> into the faction of the Clouds or middle Region; it is not forced into a Tempe&s;t; no Tumults or Commoti|ons are there. And if we a&s;cend above the Moon; the <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> are all quiet, and incorruptible. In|deed, they act upon us, but they do not nece&s;&s;itate us. In a word: they act as their Maker acts; who doth not irre&s;i&s;tbly force our wills; but onely they put us to the trial, as God does, that we may conquer. A wi&s;e man repels their maligne <HI>influences,</HI> and maintains the Calm of the Heavens in his minde and Heart: even con&s;onantly to the Sentence of a very <HI>Stoick:</HI> Talis e&s;t<NOTE PLACE="marg">Seneca Ep. 59.</NOTE> &s;apientis animus, qualis Mundi &s;tatus &s;uper Lunam: &s;em|p&egrave;r illic ferenum e&s;t: <HI>Such is the minde of a wi&s;e man, as the &s;tate of the world above the Moon. It is always &s;erene there.</HI> The Cre&s;t and Spire of all, is: the&s;e <HI>heavenly Bodies</HI> refer us to look above them, and to call upon God for <HI>Grace,</HI> which out-acts Nature, the Stars, and what&s;oever el&s;e acts in Man; and this al&s;o, is God's cour&s;e in his <HI>permi&s;&s;ions of temptation.</HI> The <HI>Old Te&s;ta|ment</HI> begins: <HI>There is none holy as the Lord.</HI> And the<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 2. 2.</NOTE> <HI>New</HI> an&s;wers: <HI>Every good gift, and every perfect gift, is</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jam. 1. 17.</NOTE> <HI>from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variaeblene&s;s, neither &s;hadow of turning.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, I prove it: Becau&s;e the Objections rai&s;ed again&s;t this enquiry, are meer bubbles, and of no firmne&s;s.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t: Many Texts of Scripture are &s;et in <HI>Battalia:</HI> which declare God's anger again&s;t <HI>Star-gazers,</HI> and the like. We mu&s;t therefore enquire what was the practi&s;e of the&s;e unholy <HI>Star-gazers,</HI> again&s;t which holy Scripture<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 47. 13.</NOTE> inveigheth.</P>
<P>I am &s;o far <HI>Bero&s;us</HI> his Pro&s;elyte, that I believe <HI>Zoro|a&s;tres</HI> to have been <HI>Cham,</HI> (&s;o he is called in the <HI>Latin Bible</HI>) and that he was the Father of tho&s;e who per|verted the noble <HI>Science of A&s;trology:</HI> the foundation of which, together with &s;ome excellent kinde of &s;u|per&s;tructure, were &s;olid and clean as they were deliver'd by the <HI>Children of Seth.</HI> The new and wrong'd <HI>A&s;tro|logy,</HI> was in proce&s;s of time, mo&s;t di&s;&s;eminated in
<PB N="25" REF="18"> <HI>Chaldea.</HI> To this the Fathers and Civil Laws, are di|ametrically oppo&s;ite. The profe&s;&s;ors of it, differed from the true <HI>A&s;trologers</HI> allied to the <HI>Children of Seth;</HI> fir&s;t: Becau&s;e their Opinion was, That the <HI>influences</HI> of the Stars were irre&s;i&s;tible, and irre&s;i&s;tibly wrought even upon the Spirits and wills of Men. In which re|&s;pect, &s;ome <HI>Councils (national</HI> and <HI>provincial</HI>) have de|clared again&s;t the <HI>Pri&s;cilliani&s;ts, Pagans,</HI> and certain <HI>Jews.</HI> One defines in &s;hort, and anathematizes all <HI>Gain-&s;ayers:</HI> Si quis animas, &amp; corpora humana fata|libus<NOTE PLACE="marg">Concil. Braca|ren&s;e, cap. 9. vide etiam c. 10</NOTE> Stellis credit a&s;tringi, &s;icut Pagani, &amp; Pri&s;cillianus dixerunt, Anathema &s;it. <HI>If any man believes, that the &s;ouls and bodies of men, are bound to the Stars acting fatally upon them, as the Pagans and Pri&s;cillian have &s;aid, let him be accur&s;ed.</HI> The <HI>Council</HI> denies not, That the Stars act directly upon all <HI>inferiour Bodies,</HI> and by chance and indirectly upon the Souls of Men; as moving the <HI>hu|mours, organs,</HI> and parts, as it were, neer the &s;oul, and by which it operates: Onely the <HI>Council</HI> eliminates fata|lity, that is, fatal nece&s;&s;ity.</P>
<P>Another is more conglobate, under a <HI>Title</HI> &s;uffi|ciently <HI>declarative:</HI> A&s;&s;ertio Fidei eju&s;dem Con|cilii<NOTE PLACE="marg">Concil. Tolitan. primum.</NOTE> contra Pri&s;cilliani&s;tas: <HI>The A&s;&s;ertion of the Faith of the &s;ame Council again&s;t the Pri&s;cilliani&s;ts.</HI> And with an eye hither, it is noted, That the <HI>Astrologers</HI> in the Primitive Church, were vehement Oppo&s;ers of Chri&s;tianity. The&s;e brought and re&s;olved all into a <HI>Stoical</HI> and <HI>fatal nece&s;&s;ity:</HI> and were at length the <HI>moving</HI> and <HI>impelling cau&s;es</HI> that men wor&s;hipped the <HI>Sun, Moon, Planets,</HI> and <HI>all the ho&s;t of Heaven;</HI> as the prime cau&s;es of<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Jer. 8. 2.</NOTE> all Things. From which wor&s;hip, as mo&s;t prophane, <HI>Job</HI> frees him&s;elf: <HI>If I beheld the Sun when it &s;hined, or</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 31. 26.</NOTE> <HI>the Moon walking in brightne&s;s: And my heart hath been</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 27.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ecretly enticed, or my mouth hath ki&s;&s;ed my hand: This al&s;o</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 28.</NOTE> <HI>were an iniquity to be puni&s;hed by the Judge; for I &s;hould have denied the God that is above.</HI> Ki&s;&s;ing of the hand was <HI>a|doration</HI> or wor&s;hip in tho&s;e times. Which was ob&s;erved even towards Statues: The people not pre&s;uming
<PB N="26" REF="19"> through reverence to touch the Statues, ki&s;&s;ed their hands in &s;ign of wor&s;hip.</P>
<P>Secondly, The&s;e <HI>Ignes fatui, fooli&s;h and &s;educing fires,</HI> differed from the true and high-born <HI>A&s;trologers:</HI> be|cau&s;e they a&s;certain'd them&s;elves to the Devil, by a com|pact, explicit or implicit. It is a <HI>Theorem</HI> in the <HI>Ange|lical part of Divinity,</HI> Boni Spiritus non paci&s;cuntur, <HI>Good Spirits make no compacts.</HI> And therefore they had i|mages in humane form, compo&s;ed by Diabolical Pre|&s;cription, under certain <HI>A&s;teri&s;ms,</HI> or <HI>Po&s;itions of the Heavens,</HI> which gave Oracles and An&s;wers. The&s;e were called <HI>Theraphim;</HI> and had in&s;inuated them&s;elves among&s;t the Jews. The word is frequent in the Old Te&s;tament. That the&s;e <HI>Theraphim</HI> did an&s;wer tho&s;e who con&s;ulted them concerning future events; is apparent in the Prophet <HI>Ezekiel:</HI> where it is &s;aid of the King of <HI>Babylon: He con&s;ulted with Images:</HI> in the <HI>Hebrew</HI> it is<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 21. 21. Text Hebr. Zach. 10. 2. Text Hebr.</NOTE> <HI>Theraphim:</HI> And in <HI>Zachary;</HI> where the Text affirms, <HI>The Idols have &s;poken vanity:</HI> the <HI>Hebrew</HI> allows the <HI>The|raphim.</HI> Wherefore the &s;eventy Interpreters for <HI>Thera|phim</HI> ca&s;t up <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>manife&s;tation;</HI> and <HI>Aquila,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sept.</NOTE> <HI>illumination;</HI> being the very words whereby they inter|pret <HI>Urim. Aben-Ezra</HI> delivers, That the <HI>Theraphim</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aben-Ez. in cap.</HI> Gen. 31.</NOTE> were Images of Men fitly made under certain <HI>Con&s;tella|tions,</HI> to receive the <HI>influx</HI> of the Heavens, and to work by it. And thus-minded was <HI>Lyranus:</HI> thus <HI>Arias</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lyran. in Judic. cap. 17. Ar. Mont. &amp; Ca|iet. in idem ca|put Judic. Olea&s;t. in Gen. cap. 31. operam dans ver&s;ui 19. R. Eliez. in capi|tulis, capitulo 36. Servius in Vir|gilium.</NOTE> <HI>Montanus,</HI> and <HI>Caietan;</HI> thus <HI>Olea&s;ter. R. Eliezer</HI> tran&s;cends all the&s;e bounds; reporting that a man be|ing the fir&s;t-born, was killed, his head cut off, and con|&s;erved with Salt and Spices: Then they engraved the Name of a certain unclean <HI>Spirit</HI> upon a plate, which they hid under the Tongue: afterward &s;etting the head in the wall, they &s;et al&s;o burning Candles before it, and wor&s;hipped it; and it &s;pake to them. And the&s;e were his <HI>Theraphim.</HI> The <HI>Trojan Palladium,</HI> or <HI>Image of Pal|las,</HI> in her Temple at <HI>Troy,</HI> which moved its eyes, and the Spear in its hand; was thought to have received in the making, Heavens benign influx, And thus the peo|ple
<PB N="27" REF="19"> were en&s;nared by the&s;e fal&s;e-&s;tamp'd <HI>A&s;trologers,</HI> in Idolatry. Such Images were di&s;honourably called by an honourable name, <HI>Tele&s;mes;</HI> of which the Scripture hath other examples.</P>
<P>Thirdly, they differed from the true and <HI>Sethean A|&s;trologers:</HI> Becau&s;e they entertained open and common <HI>familiarity</HI> with the Devil; and by vertue of the <HI>&s;ecret compact,</HI> commanded him as they plea&s;ed. Such the Scri|pture &s;hews to us in <HI>Exodus: Then Pharaoh al&s;o called the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Exod. 7. 11.</NOTE> <HI>wi&s;e-men and the Sorcerers.</HI> For <HI>Sorcerers,</HI> the <HI>Latin</HI> in|grafteth<NOTE PLACE="marg">Valgat. Inter. Onkelos Aq. Text Hebr.</NOTE> <HI>maleficos, Witches;</HI> Onkelos, Magos, <HI>the Magi|tians: Aquila,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the knowers and doers of hidden Things.</HI> The <HI>Hebrew word,</HI> Meca&s;&s;ephim, properly &s;ig|nifieth <HI>Jugglers,</HI> but is taken for any kinde of <HI>Magi,</HI> and is the word u&s;ed in the <HI>Hebrew Go&s;pel.</HI> And whole Co|lonies of the&s;e <HI>Astrologers</HI> had been traduced out of<NOTE PLACE="marg">Evang. Hebr. Mat. 2. 1.</NOTE> <HI>Chaldea</HI> into <HI>Egypt.</HI> The Princes of the&s;e, were <HI>Jannes</HI> and <HI>Jambres;</HI> as is cleer in Saint <HI>Paul. Palladius</HI> tells<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3. 8. Pallad. <HI>in vita B. Macarii.</HI></NOTE> wonderful Things of the Sepulchre of the&s;e men: which, as he &s;torieth, was placed in a Garden, furni&s;hed by them when they lived, with all kindes of rare and rich Trees and Plants; they hoping, that after death, they &s;hould alwayes life in it, as in a delicious <HI>Eden,</HI> and <HI>Gar|den of plea&s;ure.</HI> But, they being dead, the Garden was po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed and held by the Devils; and holy <HI>Macarius</HI> entred into it. I will proceed no further in the &s;teps of <HI>Palladius,</HI> le&s;t I &s;hould offend <HI>Melchior Canus,</HI> who &s;orrowfully &s;ayes: <HI>Dolent&egrave;r, dico potius qu&agrave;m contume|lio&s;e,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Melch. Can. in Locis Theologic. lib. 11. cap. 6.</NOTE> <HI>muli&ograve; &agrave; La&euml;rtio, &amp; Ethnicis Hi&s;toricis, Philo&s;opho|rum vitas &s;everi&ugrave;s &s;criptas, qu&agrave;m &agrave; Chri&s;tianis vitas &s;ancto|rum: I &s;peak it grievingly, rather then contumeliou&s;ly; The lives of the Philo&s;ophers are written more &s;everely by La&euml;rtiue, and other heatheni&s;h Hi&s;torians, then the lives of the Saints by Chri&s;tians.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Earth-born <HI>Astrologers,</HI> were men altogether carnal and lu&s;tful; and had therefore commonly a De|vil, (as oftentimes the <HI>&s;imple</HI> and meer <HI>Sorcerer</HI> had) which was <HI>ventriloquus, a &s;peaker from the belly;</HI> and
<PB N="28" REF="20"> were called <HI>Pythones;</HI> and in the <HI>Hebrew, Obot,</HI> from <HI>Ob,</HI> which &s;ignifies a <HI>bottle;</HI> becau&s;e the Devil &s;pake with a <HI>confu&s;ed voice,</HI> out of their belly, as out of a <HI>bottle.</HI> And the Devil &s;eated him&s;elf in the belly, it being the &s;eat of lu&s;t, and the receptacle of meats &amp; drinks exciting to lu&s;t: And he &s;poke with a hollow voice from their bel|lies, as from a bottle; to &s;hew and confe&s;s again&s;t his will, that the bellies of the&s;e <HI>Astrologers,</HI> were their be&s;t and the mo&s;t able Orators; and that nothing was to be found in the Devil, but hollowne&s;s and emptine&s;s.</P>
<P>Certainly, there ought no familiarity to be admitted by us, as bearing the Image of God, and as being re|turnable to God; with God's profe&s;&s;ed Enemy the Devil. And therefore, our holy Saviour &s;peaks not to him, but with Rebukes, and tho&s;e in the way to Ejecti|on. Yea, he earne&s;tly wipes from him&s;elf the &s;tain, wherewith he was defiled by the Jews, of dealing with the Devil, and u&s;ing the power of his Name. Saint <HI>Matthew</HI> gives an ample example: <HI>There was brought</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 12. 22.</NOTE> <HI>unto him one po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a devil, blinde and dumb; and he healed him: in&s;omuch, that the blinde and dumb both &s;pake and &s;aw. But when the Phari&s;ees heard it, they &s;aid,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 24.</NOTE> <HI>This fellow doth not ca&s;t out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And Je&s;us knew their thoughts, and &s;aid</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 25.</NOTE> <HI>unto them, Every kingdom divided again&s;t it &s;elf, is brought to de&s;olation: and every city or hou&s;e, divided again&s;t it &s;elf, &s;hall not &s;tand. And if Satan ca&s;t out Satan, he is di|vided</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 26.</NOTE> <HI>again&s;t him&s;elf; how &s;hall then his kingdom &s;tand? And if I by Beelzebub ca&s;t out devils, by whom do your chil|dren</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 27.</NOTE> <HI>ca&s;t them out? therefore they &s;hall be your judges. But if I ca&s;t out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">ver&s;. 28.</NOTE> <HI>God is come unto you,</HI> &amp;c. That the&s;e words may be under&s;tood to the bottom, and with&s;tand all Objecti|ons; and that no oppo&s;ition may wedge-wi&s;e enter up|on them; we mu&s;t deeply &s;teep in our thoughts; That our Saviour here, proveth, he u&s;ed not the help of the Devil: But how? not from <HI>ejection preci&s;ely,</HI> but from &s;uch an <HI>ejection;</HI> that is, which was not onely again&s;t
<PB N="29" REF="20"> the will of the Devil ejected; but al&s;o again&s;t the will of the Prince, and con&s;equently, of the whole Society of Devils: which <HI>ejection</HI> truely bended and tended to the di&s;&s;oletion and ruine of the Devil's Kindom: as al&s;o he proved him&s;elf to be God, by the ejection of the <HI>Devil</HI> and <HI>Miracles,</HI> not effected and wrought for any end what&s;oever, or <HI>indifferently,</HI> but onely to the end, that he might thereby prove him&s;elf to be God; where|as the like miracles might have been wrought by a meer man, a&s;&s;i&s;ted with the power of God. It is a Truth of a great altitude, that one Devil may expel another two manner of wayes: either by force, becau&s;e he is &s;uperi|our, and by con&s;equence, more powerful; or by bar|gain; for, tho&s;e active Agents, that they may the more involve and envelop man into &s;in, and the reward of &s;in, de&s;truction, contrive among&s;t them&s;elves, that one &s;hall depart at the command of another. Moreover: The will of the <HI>inferiour Devil,</HI> again&s;t which he is ex|pelled by the <HI>&s;uperiour</HI> in a <HI>forcible expul&s;ion,</HI> is a <HI>velleity,</HI> as the <HI>School</HI> &s;peaks, or <HI>unefficacious will;</HI> becau&s;e &s;uch <HI>expul&s;ion</HI> is advantagious to the promotion of the De|vil's Kingdom. This happens when the <HI>Magitian</HI> ha|ving <HI>compacted</HI> with a <HI>&s;uperiour Devil,</HI> hinders and ob|&s;tructs the way to a <HI>Magitian,</HI> who hath compacted with<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mart. Del Rius lib. 2. Di&s;qui&s;it. mag. qu. 30. &s;ect. 1.</NOTE> a <HI>Devil</HI> that is <HI>inferiour.</HI> Which <HI>Martinus del Rio</HI> learnedly &s;ets in the light. Our Saviour here takes up the <HI>Argument,</HI> which we call in <HI>Logick,</HI> Argumentum ad hominem: that is, <HI>when we &s;ubdue and convince a man out of his own &s;ayings or actions:</HI> there being then among&s;t the Jews, <HI>Exorcists,</HI> who did <HI>adjure</HI> and <HI>expell Devils.</HI></P>
<P>No marvel now, if the holy Scripture and Word of God, of which, <HI>David</HI> hymneth, <HI>Thy word is very pure:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 119. 140.</NOTE> <HI>declareth</HI> and <HI>defineth</HI> again&s;t this pernicious and pe&s;ti|ferous Rabble of Hell-born <HI>Astrologers.</HI> But we have a <HI>divine Rule,</HI> even in <HI>Ethicks:</HI> Abu&s;us non tollit u&s;um: <HI>The abu&s;e of a thing doth not antiquate or di&s;anul the right u&s;e thereof.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly: It is objected out of Saint <HI>Luke: Neither</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12. 29.</NOTE>
<PB N="30" REF="21"> <HI>be ye of doubtful minde.</HI> The <HI>Greek</HI> a&s;&s;igneth: <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Text. Graec.</NOTE> and &s;eemeth to impeach <HI>Abram,</HI> as he was <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">: The <HI>Latine</HI> handeth to us: <HI>Et nolite in &s;ublime</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Interp. vulg.</NOTE> <HI>tolli: and be not ye lifted on high. Arias Montanus</HI> offers, <HI>Ne &s;u&s;pendamini ex &s;ublimi:</HI> that is, as it hath reference<NOTE PLACE="marg">Arias Mont.</NOTE> to the <HI>Greek,</HI> if <HI>Aristotle</HI> may be the Interpreter of Scri|pture: <HI>Let not your thoughts hang in the Air like a Me|teor.</HI> The <HI>Syriack</HI> throws to us: <HI>Ne&abque; di&s;trahatur cogi|tatio</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Syrus Interp.</NOTE> <HI>ve&s;tra in i&s;tis: neither let your thoughts be di&s;tracted in the&s;e things.</HI> If we de&s;ire to go down to the funda|mental &s;en&s;e of the place: the <HI>Syriack</HI> hath given it in a mo&s;t bountiful manner. For: <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> cannot re|ceive the &s;eal of any other &s;en&s;e here, then as attending to the reproof of &s;uch, who being &s;wallowed up, and over-exerci&s;ed with vile and <HI>inferiour cares,</HI> neglect the <HI>unum nece&s;&s;arium: the thing of which our Saviour &s;ayes, But one thing is needful</HI> or <HI>nece&s;&s;ary.</HI> And the <HI>evidence</HI> of<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 10. 42.</NOTE> this <HI>expo&s;ition</HI> &s;hines, fir&s;t, from the words immediately precedent: <HI>And &s;eek not ye what ye &s;hall eat, or what ye</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12. 29.</NOTE> <HI>&s;hall drink:</HI> it adheres; <HI>neither be ye of doubtful minde.</HI> Secondly: from many places in Saint <HI>Ba&s;il,</HI> where<NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Ba&s;il in A&s;ce|ticis.</NOTE> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, is, <HI>the di&s;traction of the minde,</HI> or <HI>the avoca|tion of the heart from tho&s;e things, in which chiefly it &s;hould be exerci&s;ed;</HI> and where <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, implies <HI>a freedom from inferiour and other cares, that a pious man may freely</HI> vacare &amp; videre, <HI>be at lie&s;ure, &s;ee and contemplate divine and heavenly things.</HI> Thirdly: the <HI>evidence</HI> is enlight|ned from <HI>Theophylact:</HI> who, &s;earching into this very Text, &s;peaks to the <HI>mark,</HI> Sine dubio <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> nihil<NOTE PLACE="marg">Theophyl. in hunc locum.</NOTE> aliud h&icirc;c e&s;t, qu&agrave;m di&s;tractio, &amp; mentis in&s;tabilis vagatio nunc hoc, nunc illud cogitantis, &amp; ab uno ad aliud tran|&s;ilientis, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">: <HI>without doubt</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> <HI>is nothing el&s;e here, but di&s;traction, and the wan|dring of an un&s;table minde, thinking now this, now that, and leaping from one thing to another, and alwayes phanta&s;tically propo&s;ing to it &s;elf more &s;ublime things.</HI> Therefore it looks not this our way, what <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> are in <HI>Ari&s;totle:</HI> But it is in rea&s;on charged upon us, to &s;it reverently at the feet
<PB N="31" REF="21"> of the <HI>Greek-Fathers,</HI> who be&s;t knew the Life, Soul, and Sen&s;e of Scripture-words in their own language.</P>
<P>Thirdly: It is objected out of Saint <HI>Paul: For I</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 12. 3.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ay through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of him&s;elf more highly then he ought to think, but to think &s;oberly.</HI> The <HI>Latine</HI> affords it<NOTE PLACE="marg">Edit. Lat.</NOTE> &s;omewhat <HI>differently,</HI> Non pl&ugrave;s &s;apere, qu&agrave;m oportet &s;apere, &s;ed &s;apere ad &s;obrietatem: <HI>not to be more wi&s;e, then it behoveth us, but to be wi&s;e to &s;obriety.</HI> In the <HI>Greek</HI> it is mo&s;t elegantly woven, or embroidered rather: <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Text. Graec.</NOTE> <HI>not to be wi&s;e above our Sphere,</HI> or with an <HI>A&s;trolabe, but to be wi&s;e,</HI> as <HI>Irenaeus</HI> turns it, <HI>ad prudentiam, to pru|dence:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Iren. lib. 5. cap. 20. S. Chry&s;o&s;t. in hunc locum.</HI> Syr. Interp. <HI>S. Aug. Ep. 47. S. Hieron. lib. 1. in Jovin.</HI></NOTE> as Saint <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> and the <HI>Syriack,</HI> ad mode|&s;tiam, <HI>to mode&s;ty;</HI> as Saint <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> ad temperantiam, <HI>to temperance;</HI> as Saint <HI>Hierom,</HI> ad pudicitiam, <HI>to cha&s;tity and hone&s;ty.</HI> This holy Text ejects all curious enquiry into My&s;teries; as, into the <HI>my&s;tery of the &s;acred Trinity, of the Incarnation of Chri&s;t,</HI> &amp;c. that <HI>Faith may have its perfect work;</HI> with which Faith Saint <HI>Paul</HI> dignifies the end of the Ver&s;e: <HI>according as God hath dealt to every man the mea&s;ure of Faith.</HI> But whereas Saint <HI>Paul</HI> had plainly taught in the qeginning of this Epi&s;tle: That <HI>the</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 1. 20.</NOTE> <HI>invi&s;ible things of God from the Creation of the world are clearly &s;een, being under&s;tood by the things that are made:</HI> clear it is, we may climbe up by the knowledge of all vi&s;ible <HI>Things,</HI> as the works of God proportionable to us, unto more and more knowledge of the invi&s;ible God: who is apprehended more and more in the knowledge of his works; and in the conjunction of the effects of Things, with the Things as with their Cau&s;es. And our <HI>talent</HI> being encrea&s;ed, we may not bury it; but are engaged to communicate it with all their power, that God's heavenly power may be further known upon Earth.</P>
<P>We finde recorded, that <HI>Aristotle</HI> a&s;cended &s;o far, and &s;o neer to the highe&s;t Heaven, or Heaven of Heavens; making his gradual progre&s;s from motion to motion,
<PB N="32" REF="22"> that he found out him at the top of the Stairs, who is <HI>primus motor, the fir&s;t Mover;</HI> and that he called upon him in the &s;ad hour of his <HI>death.</HI> Ari&s;toteles moriturus<NOTE PLACE="marg">Weckerus de Se|cretis, lib. 15. c. 1</NOTE> exclamabat, Ens Entium mi&s;erere mei; &amp; ob hanc depre|cationem, eum aliqui &s;alvum fore credunt. <HI>Aristotle,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Weckarus, being in the &s;hadow of death,</HI> I mean, <HI>in &s;ome neerne&s;s to it, cried out, O thou Thing of Things, which art a|bove all Things, have mercy on me: and for this prayer, &s;ome believed that he is &s;aved.</HI> I wave his &s;alvation: But I argue: If <HI>heatheni&s;h Philo&s;ophers</HI> found out God by the <HI>heavenly Bodies,</HI> and by the <HI>gradations</HI> of their <HI>motions; Chri&s;tian Astrologers,</HI> having more illuminated under&s;tandings, may thereby di&s;cover more and more of the <HI>outward dif|erences</HI> and <HI>perfections of his Attributes.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly: It is objected: That <HI>judicial A&s;trology</HI> re|flects a di&s;honor upon God, to whom onely pertains, as one of his royal <HI>Dignities</HI> and <HI>Excellencies,</HI> cognitio futu|rorum, <HI>the knowledge of future things.</HI></P>
<P>Now you have done your Arrant, take your An&s;wer: There are two &s;orts of <HI>future things:</HI> either &s;uch as de|pend upon <HI>natural</HI> &amp; <HI>nece&s;&s;ary cau&s;es,</HI> which always work <HI>ad ultimum potentiae, to the utmo&s;t of their power,</HI> and have their known cour&s;es; and the&s;e may be fore&s;een by us in their cau&s;es: or &s;uch as depend upon the Free-will of God or of Man, before they come to be effectually willed by him; or at length, &s;uch as depend upon <HI>con|tingent cau&s;es,</HI> either in them&s;elves, or in their <HI>concur|rences</HI> with other <HI>cau&s;es.</HI> The&s;e God alone fore&s;ees, according to the holy Text: <HI>Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are Gods.</HI> And he<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 41. 23.</NOTE> onely fore&s;ees them for two Rea&s;ons. The fir&s;t is: Be|cau&s;e <HI>future things,</HI> as I touched before, are pre&s;ent to him; and therefore, the knowledge of <HI>future things</HI> in him, is rather <HI>Cognition,</HI> then <HI>Precognition</HI> or <HI>Pre&s;cience.</HI> The &s;econd Rea&s;on is: Becau&s;e the <HI>Divine Will</HI> is the <HI>Cau&s;e</HI> of all <HI>Events;</HI> and God throughly knows his own <HI>Will.</HI></P>
<P>Hence the <HI>Divines</HI> a&s;&s;ign five <HI>Actions</HI> to God, as mo&s;t
<PB N="33" REF="22"> proper to him, <HI>Creation, Con&s;ervation,</HI> which is indeed a <HI>continued Creation: Salvation,</HI> and the <HI>helps in order to it,</HI> as <HI>Grace,</HI> and the <HI>Sacraments: praecognition of future things,</HI> which depend on the <HI>will</HI> or <HI>Event:</HI> and to be <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, that is, <HI>to know the heart in the heart it &s;elf,</HI> not by direction from <HI>external Signes.</HI></P>
<P><HI>A&s;trology</HI> therefore, doth not in any kinde, ab&s;tract or derogate from God's <HI>Dignity</HI> or <HI>Excellency:</HI> But one|ly &s;ticks clo&s;e to this innocent Truth: That as God hath imprinted certain <HI>Signs</HI> in humane Bodies, which are <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> Affectionum internarum, <HI>declarative of the in|ward affections;</HI> and certain <HI>Signs</HI> al&s;o, which are <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF"> Morborum futurorum, <HI>foretelling future di&s;ea&s;es:</HI> and by the&s;e the learned, learnedly, <HI>harmle&s;ly, u&s;efully,</HI> and <HI>piou&s;ly judge</HI> of <HI>internal affections</HI> in their <HI>kindes,</HI> and under the condition or &s;uppo&s;ition if they be <HI>not bridled;</HI> and of di&s;ea&s;es to come if not prevented: &s;o the <HI>A&s;tro|logers</HI> proceed in the Heavens; having ob&s;erved that &s;uch effects are if not always <HI>concomitant</HI> with, certainly <HI>con&s;e|quent</HI> always to &s;uch <HI>cau&s;es.</HI> And as the common people of <HI>Phy&s;itians</HI> have their <HI>critical days</HI> from the Moon, with|out much looking upwards; by which they wi&s;ely judge, how it will &s;ucceed with a man in re&s;pect of his di&s;ea&s;e: and as they have arrived by <HI>tradition,</HI> yet with no little benefit, to the knowledge of the <HI>climacterical yeers:</HI> &s;o likewi&s;e the <HI>A&s;trologer,</HI> making his Addre&s;&s;es neerer to the Fountain, mode&s;tly judges of the Fountain by the Streams, and of the Streams reciprocally by the Foun|tain.</P>
<P>Notwith&s;tanding all this: The knowledge of God doth infinitely excel, &s;urmount, and tran&s;cend all <HI>created knowledge,</HI> be it <HI>humane</HI> or <HI>angelical.</HI> And this, in many <HI>fundamental Re&s;pects.</HI> As, 1. <HI>Ratione Objecti: by rea|&s;on of the Object.</HI> For: God by his knowledge, knows all things pa&s;t, pre&s;ent, and to come; yea, all things po&s;&s;ible, and even him&s;elf as the va&s;t and immen&s;e Ocean of all things. 2. <HI>Ratione modi &amp; perfectionis in cogno&s;cendo; By rea&s;on of the manner and
<PB N="34" REF="23"> perfection in knowing.</HI> For, God knows all things mo&s;t perfectly, and all manner of wayes in the which they are <HI>cogno&s;cible;</HI> and therefore, hath a <HI>comprehen&s;ive know|ledge</HI> of all things. 3. <HI>Ratione medii, By rea&s;on of the means.</HI> For, God knows not by <HI>&s;pecies,</HI> nor by <HI>effects,</HI> but &s;ees and knows all things by his own e&s;&s;ence, as by a mo&s;t cleer Gla&s;s. 4. <HI>Ratione celeritatis, by rea&s;on of the quickne&s;s.</HI> For, God knows all things, <HI>&s;imul &amp; &s;emel, to|gether and at once,</HI> that is, in one view or <HI>intuition</HI> of him|&s;elf. 5. <HI>Ratione certitudinis, By rea&s;on of the certainty.</HI> For, he knows all things, even contingents (which by them|&s;elves, and compared to us, are uncertain) mo&s;t certain|ly. 6. <HI>Ratione Aeternitatis, By rea&s;on of eternity.</HI> For, the knowledge of God never began, nor &s;hall ever end. 7. <HI>Ratione uniformitatis, By rea&s;on of the uniformity.</HI> Be|cau&s;e the knowledge of God is unvariable, and the &s;ame alwayes; and is neither proficient nor deficient. 8. <HI>Ra|tione &s;implicitatis &amp; unitatis, By rea&s;on of its &s;implicity and unity.</HI> Becau&s;e God under&s;tands him&s;elf and all other things, with one mo&s;t &s;imple act of his under&s;tanding. 9. <HI>Ratione entitatis, By rea&s;on of its entity.</HI> For, the know|ledge is not accidentary, as the knowledge of Angels and of Men; but is &s;ub&s;tantial to God, and even God him&s;elf. 10. <HI>Ratione cau&s;alitatis, By rea&s;on of its cau&s;ality.</HI> Becau&s;e the knowledge of God, is the idea and cau&s;e of all things that are made. La&s;tly, <HI>Ratione foecunditatis &amp; communicationis, By rea&s;on of its fecundity and communica|tion.</HI> Becau&s;e the wi&s;dom and knowledge of God, as the greate&s;t of Lights, and as a Light exceeding all Lights a&s;&s;embled into one Light; diffu&s;eth it &s;elf to Angels, Men, and all &s;en&s;itive Creatures; and makes all things that know and are known, to be known and to know.</P>
<P>Fifthly: It is objected: That the Stars are a long way exalted above us; and that therefore we know but few things concerning them; and the knowledge even of tho&s;e things is uncertain. <HI>I an&s;wer,</HI> Scientia e&s;t univer|&s;alium, non &s;ingularium; quipp&egrave; quae &s;unt infinita: <HI>Arts and Sciences are of univer&s;als and generals, not of &s;ingulars
<PB N="35" REF="23"> or particulars, the&s;e being infinite.</HI> Moreover: <HI>Sciences</HI> are perfected more and more every day. Yea, in Divinity it &s;elf, tho&s;e Doctrines are matters of Faith in the e&s;ti|mation of &s;ome, which to others are matters of Opini|on, and onely probable; and to a third &s;ort, pernicious fal&s;hoods: yet the &s;olid and &s;uccous body of Divinity, &s;till grows more and more torous and quadrangular. E|ven &s;o in <HI>A&s;trology;</HI> &s;ome will have, that the tops of our Mountains are fairly repre&s;ented in the <HI>Globe of the Moon,</HI> as in a Gla&s;s: others, that there are Mountains, and Seas, and even another world in the Moon. But all this while <HI>A&s;trology</HI> &s;till gathers up it &s;elf, as other Arts and Sci|ences, higher and higher, and yet higher. For now the <HI>A&s;trologers</HI> have plainly di&s;covered many things above ordinary, which were unknown to <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> and the learned Ancients: As, that the <HI>Planets, Venus</HI> and <HI>Mer|cury</HI> move about the <HI>Sun;</HI> and are now above the <HI>Sun,</HI> now under it; that <HI>Venus</HI> doth encrea&s;e, and hath horns as the <HI>Moon:</HI> that the <HI>Sun</HI> and <HI>Moon</HI> have &s;pots, which encrea&s;e, move, and are divided; and now appear, now vani&s;h: that &s;ome <HI>Comets</HI> have their abode above the <HI>Moon:</HI> that the <HI>Phaenomena</HI> which appear, are not Stars; becau&s;e they ri&s;e without our knowledge, and having &s;a|luted us, di&s;appear: <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>And if in <HI>A&s;trology,</HI> many things cannot be penetrated to the heart and marrow; in the like place and condition is <HI>Philo&s;ophy.</HI> Who can fetch from the deep, the rea&s;on why Ecnephias catches up hou&s;es and &s;hips, and having played a little with them in the Air, carele&s;sly throws them to the Earth or Sea again? Why the Whirl-winde goes round, and violently carries other things with it? Why the Windes blow, now here, now there? Why the Load-&s;tone, though divided into parts, turns one &s;ide to one Pole, the other to the other? Why tho&s;e things act &s;o and &s;o? for the which we re&s;erve no other An&s;wer, but <HI>occulta qualitas, they act by a hidden quality.</HI> If we re|move the Court to Divinity, and except the My&s;teries: certain other things will not ea&s;ily be under&s;tood. O|riginal
<PB N="36" REF="24"> Sin; and how the &s;in which <HI>Adam</HI> committed, is tran&s;mitted to his po&s;terity, and made per&s;onal and pro|per in every one of them, is not perfectly conceivable: how <HI>grace</HI> concurs with the <HI>will,</HI> and how each hath its proper force concurring to the &s;ame act, which is both gracious and free, and yet neither is impeached; is not altogether &s;o liable to humane capacity. The&s;e <HI>Sciences are like unto trea&s;ure hid in a field.</HI> They &s;harpen de|&s;ire,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 13. 44.</NOTE> and heat indu&s;try.</P>
<P>Sixthly: It is objected: That in <HI>A&s;trology</HI> there are ma|ny fooli&s;h, frivolous, and impertinent matters. I an&s;wer, So in <HI>Divinity</HI> there are, <HI>que&s;tiones inutiles, unprofitable que|&s;tions:</HI> of the which, the <HI>Angelical Doctor</HI> complains;<NOTE PLACE="marg">D. Tho. in Prolo|go ad &s;ummum Theologicam.</NOTE> and whil&s;t he complains of others, &s;uch Que&s;tions him|&s;elf adopts; e&s;pecially, <HI>in materi&acirc; de Angelis, among&s;t his Que&s;tions concerning the Angels;</HI> and excites others to complain of him. And put the ca&s;e, the <HI>A&s;trologer</HI> ju&s;tles and copes often with &s;uch trivials in his &s;tudies; The wi&s;e-man will di&s;-impeach him: who boldly &s;aith: <HI>And I gave my heart to know wi&s;dom, and to know madne&s;s and</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 1. 17.</NOTE> <HI>folly.</HI> For, as Saint <HI>Hierom</HI> expatiates upon the <HI>place:</HI> Con|traria contrariis intelliguntur; aequali&s;&abque; &s;tudii fuit Solo|moni,<NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Hierom. in hunc locum.</NOTE> &s;cire prudentiam &amp; &s;tultitiam. Quare? Ut in aliis appetendis, &amp; aliis declinandis, vera ejus &s;apientia pro|baretur. <HI>Contraries are under&s;tood by contraries; and it was of equal &s;tudy to Solomon, to know prudence and fooli&s;hne&s;s. Wherefore? That in his de&s;iring of &s;ome things, and his de|clining of others, his true wi&s;dom, as going wi&s;ely betwixt the extreams, might appear true being proved.</HI> Now if any man adhere to the&s;e errours, follies, and impertinencies, procreated and pro&s;eminated by <HI>A&s;trologers,</HI> engendred of the <HI>corruption of Cham,</HI> and walking to the left-hand: he &s;hall not be <HI>Barcoshebas, the Son of a Star;</HI> but <HI>Car|chasba, the Son of a lye:</HI> and how&s;oever he may move, as other men a while; yet <HI>motus trepidationis, the motion of trembling</HI> will have a terrible influence upon him at la&s;t; and he will be utterly deprived of the benign and ble&s;|&s;ed-making A&s;pect of God.</P>
<PB N="37" REF="24">
<P><HI>A&s;trology</HI> being thus con&s;idered, and re&s;trained within its Channel; is <HI>harmle&s;s, u&s;eful,</HI> and <HI>pious:</HI> and &s;weetly re&s;ounds to the End of the lights, appointed for <HI>&s;igns and &s;ea&s;ons.</HI> If any man oppo&s;e it in its own &s;tation, he may perhaps as the <HI>divine Areopagite</HI> &s;peaks, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Diony&s;. Areop. de divin. nom. cap. 8.</NOTE> <HI>cudgel the Air and the &s;hadows valiantly, and like a man.</HI> But he will never get the field, or prevail farther then again&s;t him&s;elf. He may quickly &s;hew that he has <HI>ridicu|lum caput, at&abque; os patulum &s;par&s;um&abque;; a ridiculous head, and an open and wide mouth:</HI> but he will not be able to evince, that he has a large heart, and a knowing &s;oul.</P>
<P>And now, ye learned <HI>Children of Seth;</HI> as your <HI>A&s;tro|logy</HI> is an <HI>Art,</HI> let us de&s;cend to a conclu&s;ion by the pri|vate and clean path of <HI>u&s;e</HI> and <HI>fruit.</HI> Ye have heard here of God as the pinacle of all things: look ye up to him by Faith, as Saint <HI>Stephen</HI> looked on him by a kinde of <HI>vi&s;ion;</HI> of whom it is written: <HI>He being full of the holy</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7. 55.</NOTE> <HI>Gho&s;t, looked up &s;tedfa&s;tly into heaven, and &s;aw the glory of God, and Je&s;us &s;tanding on the right-hand of God.</HI> He <HI>looked above</HI> your Heavens, <HI>into Heaven,</HI> and <HI>there &s;aw the glory of God, and Je&s;us</HI> Chri&s;t, the Bridegroom of Souls on his <HI>right-hand.</HI> This teaches you, that you mu&s;t refer all your actions to <HI>the glory of God;</HI> and that the Chri&s;tian Soul mu&s;t be adorned as the <HI>Spou&s;e of Chri&s;t. Chri&s;t,</HI> as the <HI>Bridegroom,</HI> &s;peaks to the Soul which is the <HI>Spou&s;e: Thou</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cant. 4. 9.</NOTE> <HI>ha&s;t ravi&s;hed my heart, my &s;i&s;ter, my &s;pou&s;e: thou ha&s;t ravi&s;hed my heart, with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.</HI> The <HI>Latine</HI> applieth: <HI>Vulner&acirc;&s;ti cor meum &s;oror mea &s;pon&s;a;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Edit. Lat.</NOTE> <HI>vulner&acirc;&s;ti cor meum in uno oculorum tuorum, &amp; in uno crine colli tui. Thou ha&s;t wounded my heart, O thou which art both my &s;i&s;ter and &s;pou&s;e; thou hast wounded my heart in one of thine eyes, and in one hair of thy neck.</HI> The <HI>eye</HI> is the mo&s;t excellent and mo&s;t curious part of mans body; and the <HI>hair</HI> being excrementitious, is of little worth. Wound ye the <HI>heart</HI> of Chri&s;t day and night, with your excellent works, and with your common and ordinary works, that is, with all your works. Likewi&s;e: ye contemplate the <HI>lights of heaven,</HI> as the <HI>eyes</HI> of the world, and your tem|poral
<PB N="38" REF="25"> affairs, re-cal you to the con&s;ideration of earthly Things, being <HI>excrementitious</HI> and <HI>corruptible. Glorifie</HI> God, and <HI>wound</HI> Chri&s;t with the <HI>wounds of love,</HI> in the pious u&s;e of them and the&s;e.</P>
<P>Secondly, ye have heard here of <HI>Grace,</HI> and of the &s;u|pernatural and overcommanding <HI>power</HI> of it. I commend to you the <HI>worth of Grace,</HI> and the <HI>work of Grace;</HI> that being enamour'd on it, ye may pray for it. The <HI>worth of Grace,</HI> as worthily delineated by <HI>Thomas</HI> of <HI>Aquine;</HI> who di&s;puting of the difference betwixt the <HI>ju&s;tification of a &s;inner,</HI> and the <HI>creation of the world,</HI> in the <HI>worth of the act,</HI> &s;aith: <HI>Bonum gratiae unius majus e&s;t, qu&agrave;m bonum Naturae</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Tho. 1. 2. q. 113. art. 9. ad. 2</NOTE> <HI>totius univer&s;i: One degree of grace is of more worth, then the goods of Nature pertaining to the whole Univer&s;e.</HI> The <HI>work of grace,</HI> is the Rea&s;on of the <HI>worth</HI> of it: Becau&s;e it conjoyns us <HI>with God:</HI> who governs the <HI>Stars,</HI> their Influences and effects: yea, makes us, as it were, <HI>Gods,</HI> and, to &s;peak in the language of <HI>Ana&s;ta&s;ius Synaita, Pa|triarch of Antioch:</HI> Quodammod&ograve; Chri&s;tos in divinitate<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>S. Ana&s;ta&s;. Sy|nait. lib. 7. Hex|am.</HI> Eccle&s;. 17. 18.</NOTE> &s;imul &amp; humanitate: <HI>in a manner Chri&s;ts, as having both di|vinity and humanity.</HI> Hence the wi&s;e-man compares <HI>grace</HI> with the <HI>pupil of the eye:</HI> Becau&s;e as the <HI>pupil</HI> receives the <HI>image of a man,</HI> and therefore it is called in the <HI>Hebrew,</HI> I&s;con, <HI>a little man;</HI> &s;o in <HI>grace</HI> there is the <HI>image of God;</HI> it being our highe&s;t <HI>participation of the Divinity</HI> in this world; and we being called by Saint <HI>Peter, partakers of</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 1. 4.</NOTE> <HI>the divine Nature.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly: Ye have heard here of the Angels. Learn, I pray: Angels in holy Scripture, are alwayes repre&s;ented to us, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, &s;tantes, <HI>&s;tanding.</HI> Where&s;oever divine Scri|pture pre&s;ents them, we finde them neither in a po&s;ture of &s;itting, nor of lying or leaning, but of &s;tanding. It is the wi&s;e ob&s;ervation of <HI>Cyrillus Alexandrinus.</HI> And his<NOTE PLACE="marg">Cyril. Alex. in cap. 1. Zachar.</NOTE> Rea&s;on will not be di&s;-obliged from his Ob&s;ervation. <HI>They &s;tand,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>to divulge and evidence their promptne&s;s, readine&s;s and erected minde, to bring all the commands of God to execution.</HI> Stand ye therefore alwayes ready to execute<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ecc</HI> Eccle&s;. 6. 14</NOTE> the mo&s;t royal and holy commands of God, not the mo&s;t
<PB N="39" REF="25"> vile and execrable commands of the Devil: that <HI>Gods will</HI> may <HI>be done</HI> by you <HI>in earth, as it is in heaven.</HI></P>
<P>Fourthly: ye have heard here of the <HI>Devil. Gaudentius Brixien&s;is</HI> expre&s;&s;eth of <HI>him:</HI> Po&s;t adventum Chri&s;ti, du|plicato<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gaud. Brix &s;erm. 19.</NOTE> contra hominum genus furore &s;uccenditur: <HI>after the coming of Chri&s;t, he is fired with a double fury against humane kinde.</HI> Saint <HI>Epiphanius</HI> teaches, <HI>That the devil is</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">S. Epiph. lib. 1. in Ephit.</NOTE> <HI>called in Scripture by the name of a Serpent; becau&s;e the Ser|pent is</HI> omnium animantium <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the mo&s;t winding and turning of all living creatures; and that he windes him|&s;elf into circles and knots, and hath nothing of right, &s;traight, or innocent candor.</HI> He is called by <HI>Theodoret,</HI> <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Theodoret. lib. 1. Hi&s;t. cap.</HI> 2. Mat. 13. 19. <HI>S. Greg. Thaum. Orat. 2. de an|nunc.</HI> S. <HI>Ba&s;il. hom. qu&ograve;d Deus non &s;it Auctor mali.</HI> S. <HI>Tho. p. 1. q. 63 art. 9. ad 3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>altogether wicked;</HI> and in the Go&s;pel, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the wicked one. Gregorius Thaumaturgus</HI> calls him, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the Prince of evil ones.</HI> Saint <HI>Ba&s;il</HI> &s;tiles him, <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the Re|ceptacle or promptuary of all malice. Aquinas</HI> &s;ets a re&s;plen|dent and &s;ingular ob&s;ervation, as in a <HI>Ring:</HI> In &s;acr&acirc; Scri|ptur&acirc; nomina quorundam ordinum ut Seraphim &amp; Thro|norum, Daemonibus non attribuuntur: quia haec nomina &s;umuntur ab ardore charitatis, &amp; ab inhabitatione Dei, quae non po&s;&s;unt e&s;&s;e cum peccato mortali. Attribuuntur autem eis nomina Cherubim, pote&s;tatum, &amp; principa|tuum: quia haec nomina &s;umuntur &agrave; Scienti&acirc; &amp; Potenti&acirc; quae bonis mali&s;que po&s;&s;unt e&s;&s;e communia. <HI>In holy Scri|pture the Names of certain Orders of Angels, as of the Se|raphim and Thrones, are not attributed to the devils; becau&s;e the&s;e names are taken from the ardor of charity,</HI> (as the name of the <HI>Seraphim) and from the inhabitation of God,</HI> (as the name of the Thrones) <HI>which things cannot &s;tand with mor|tal &s;in. But the names of the Cherubim, Powers and Princi|palities, are in holy Scripture, attributed to the Devils; be|cau&s;e the&s;e Names are taken form knowledge and power, which may be common both to good and bad.</HI> Beware, I mo&s;t humbly be&s;eech you in <HI>the Name of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> of him that is now doubly fired again&s;t us, that is mo&s;t winding and in&s;inuating, of him that is all-wicked, and the Prince of <HI>mi&s;chief:</HI> yea, the unexhau&s;ted promptuary of <HI>all wickedne&s;s:</HI> of him that hath much of power, of
<PB N="40" REF="26"> Principality, and all this without Piety, without Charity: of him, that is <GAP LANG="grc" DESC="foreign" RESP="OXF">, <HI>the de&s;troyer,</HI> that wooes and<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 9. 11.</NOTE> courts us to de&s;troy us. <HI>Be &s;ober, be vigilant, becau&s;e your</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Pet. 5. 8.</NOTE> <HI>adver&s;ary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, &s;eeking whom he may devour.</HI></P>
<P>Fifthly: ye have &s;een the <HI>Lights of Heaven</HI> once more in this Di&s;cour&s;e. And ye your &s;elves mu&s;t be <HI>lights</HI> from Heaven. And therefore, <HI>let your light &s;o &s;hine before men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5. 16.</NOTE> <HI>that they may &s;ee your good works, and glorifie your Father which is in heaven.</HI> The Lamps in Sepulchres gave light to the dead, and to their dry bones and du&s;t. It is your duty, to give light unto the living, and to rea&s;onable Creatures; and therefore, your light mu&s;t be kindled from him that is <HI>Lux mundi, the Light of the world.</HI> So Chri&s;t &s;aith of him&s;elf, <HI>I am the light of the world.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 8. 12.</NOTE></P>
<P>La&s;tly, The Motions of the heavenly Bodies, have now been acted again in your under&s;tandings. I &s;hall onely in this re&s;pect, nakedly propo&s;e to you the &s;ublime exam|ple of <HI>Laurentius Justinianus:</HI> concerning whom <HI>Ber|nardus</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Bernard in vit&acirc; Laurent. Ju&s;tin. cap. 7.</NOTE> <HI>writes:</HI> Erat Verborum Action&uacute;mque tanta men|&s;ura, ut &s;i inferiora haec Coele&s;tibus conferri fas e&s;t, vix ego motus Caelorum, &amp; revolutiones &amp; gyros agi majori ordine at que men&s;ur&acirc; crediderim. <HI>There was &s;uch a mea|&s;ure of his words and actions, that if it be lawful to compare the&s;e inferiour things, with things heavenly; I &s;carce think that the motions of the heavenly bodies, are performed with more order and mea&s;ure.</HI> Here is your <HI>ultimate work:</HI> here the chief <HI>Praxis</HI> of your <HI>Vocation.</HI> To this I com|med you, and this I commend to you, <HI>in vi&s;ceribus Je&s;u Christi, in the bowels of JESUS-CHRIST.</HI></P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>I&s;a. 42. 8.</BIBL> My Glory will I not give to another.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<CLOSER>Soli Deo, Dei Gloria.</CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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