Hebrews say is distant from Heaven a 500. Years Journey rise together at their first Creation in one point of time yet though they have been Running their restless Course for neer 6000 Years now neither of them hath fainted or failed in the way so as at any time to outrun each other but still both of those Great Stars observe a precise point of time for their Rising together now as they did at their first setting forth yea and of setting together to those under the Aequinoctial though not so to us through the obliquity of their Circle and Circumference in our Horrizon The same may be said of the other Stars The 4th Remark is that the Great God hath created not only Innumerable and Unnameable Stars that are fixed in the 8th Sphere call'd the Starry Heaven but also seven Planets or wandring Stars as the word Planet signifies so called not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simply but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum quid or Comparatively If those Planets be Simply and by themselves considered they have made their several Revolutions in their own distinct Orbs at the most fixed and most unchangeable certain Periods from the Beginning of the World to this present day but to speak comparatively in Respect of the fixed Stars all these Planets are placed under them have a differing Motion from them and hold an unequal distance to them yea and one to another in Respect of their seeming Vagabond and Eccentrick Motion they have various Longitudes Latitudes Conjunctions Oppositions extile Square and Trine Aspects Sometimes they move more swiftly sometimes more slowly as they are higher or lower in their Epicycles sometimes Retrograde Direct or Stationary never keeping the same distance among themselves or to any of the fixed Stars nor holding one and the same Situation in the Firmament as the fixed do Notwithstanding all this no Stars wander less than they do but have a most certain constant stated and regular Motion Duely performing the precise points and periods of their compass in their appointed Times As the Sun knows his going down Psal 104. 19. So do all the other six Planets comprehended in one Verse Post Sum Sum Sequitur proxima Luna subest Wherein S is Saturn J Jupiter M Mars The next S is Sol the Sun V Venus and M Mercury with Luna the Moon All these 7 are call'd wandring Stars for the Reasons above named and this Denomination hath a Divine warrant from the Apostle Jude v. 13. where wandring Stars are mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sense only of the common Judgment of Sense which beholds them carryed about in a differing Course to the whole Circuit of Heaven beside Two of those 7. Planets are these 2. Great Luminaries or Lights of the World the Sun and Moon both which be a whole Bundle of Wonders The Sun is the Prince of Planets yet as his Hebrew Name Shemesh Signifies is a Servant to Gods Servants He cometh out of his Chamber as a Bridegroom with marvellous Splendor Pomp and Bravery when he first sheweth himself above our Horizon and Rejoyceth as a Champion to Run his Race Psal 19. 4. 5. This he Runs with such a wonderful Swiftness as exceedeth the Eagles Flight more than the Eagle exceeds the slow Motion of the Snail Bellarmine saith the Sun runneth seven Thousand Miles in the Eight part of an Hour Bell. de Ascens Mentis in Deum grad 7. and with such Incomparable Sweetness Eccles 11. 7. that Eudoxus the Philosopher profess'd his Willingness to be burnt up presently by the Sun so he might be but admitted to come so near it as to learn the admirable Nature of it and Chrysostom cannot but wonder at the Suns darting down its Rayes towards the Earth whereas all Fire shooteth and hasteth up toward Heaven I might mention many more Marvels in the Sun were it not besides my present Design As likewise in the other Great Light the Moon cal'd Hebr. Jareach of Rauach to Refresh or Refrigerate because she cools the Earth with her Influences and Moses mentioneth that as the Sun by warmth so the Moon by Moysture make the Earth fruitful Deut. 33. 14. as some will needs place Hell in the Hollow of the Sun so others conceit a World in the Moon the Thinner part to be the Sea and the Thicker which is easy to discern not all alike lightsom to be the Earth However no Planet hath such Changeable Aspects yet Astronomers Affirm she hath as much light in her Wane as in her Full only her bright side is turned toward Heaven Hence Dr Hackwel hath an Excellent Note that therefore God seem'd to set Her lowest in the Heavens and neerest to the Earth of all the 7. Planets to put us daily in mind of the Constancy in Heavenly and Inconstancy of Earthly things Herself in some sort partaking of both though in a Different manner of the one in her Substance and of the other in her Visage to say nothing of the Ecclipses which are the wonders of the World and which Metamorphose even the very Haters of Astrology to become stark-staring Star Gazers to say but little of the two Planets next above the Moon yet under the Sun to wit Venus and Mercury both which do attend alway upon the Sun as Courtiers do upon the King never going far from Him Venus never more than 48 degrees and Mercury but 30 which is the Reason why it is so seldom seen and why both have no other Aspect to the Sun but Conjunction whereas the other Planets have oppositions c. The Morning Star commonly call'd Venus for its Beauty and Bravery is the constant Companion of the Sun and next in bigness as to Appearance to the two Great Lights casting a shadow as the Moon 't is seen long upon the Day and is not darken'd by the Moon in the Night Sed ipsius Contactu fit luc dior Aureo colore in Candorem diffuso The neer Approach of the Moon Changes only its golden Complexion into a more splendid brightness These two in a word Venus and Mercury are call'd Homodromi that is Fellow-Runners because They Run almost in the same course together and fulfills their periods not far asunder never much Remote from the Pallace Royal or Presence Chamber of the Sun their King which is also the Reason why these two never have Ortum Occasum Cosmicum they do not Rise and set with the Sun in that part or point of Heaven c. which is opposite Both keep nigh the Sun sometimes going before it and sometimes following After But omitting the Inferior my main concern at present is the Superior Planets under which the Sun is eated as the Center of all the Stars and the Eye of the World God hath placed it in the midst of the Orbs that it might the more commodiously give light It self being the fountain thereof to both the Superiour and Inferiour Stars and that neither by its propinquity If in the Moons
as if they were Auxiliaries the soundest Divinity saith they are general Causes only but not special so nothing can be infallibly foretold from their positions Moses did call them Signs not Causes to prevent Idolatry much less did He call them Prophets as if they could predict future Events with any certainty Hence Spineus candidly confesses that Astrologers can but conjecture none but those inspired by God can foretel as Amos 3 7. Catastrophe Mundi page 11. 12. The same say Kepler Tycho Alsted c. Kepler makes a more modest Observation than Cardan saying the wise Men who were led by a signal Star out of the East might by the Rules of their own Astrological Art make some Conjectures of an Eminent Event and of the Birth of a mighty Monarch because saith he that Comet as he calls it appeared at the very Time when their was the fift Climacterical Conjunction of the 2 superior Planets Saturn and Jupiter in the fiery Trigon Yea the Head Masters of that Mystery do grant that though the various Positions of the Stars have great Effects upon sublunary Bodies yet peremptorily to assign them is Presumption for the Efficacy of the Stars above our Heads and their Specifick virtues cannot be so well known to us as may be that of Herbs which we can take in our Hands and do tread upon with our Feet and therefore long Experience of such and such Effects following Comets and Conjunctions do teach more and better than all Astrological Rules Maxims or Aphorisms Indeed Sir Christopher Heydon steps a little farther saying that their Effects be by long Experience certainly known though the Causes be unknown and cannot be demonstrated I must confess this Assertion holds true in some other Cases more familiar to Man and such whose Causes and Effects are each of them equally more nearly conversant with us than are Celestial Causes and Terrestrial Effects as for Instance it hath been my own many Times Experiment how Harmony in Mufick upon musical well tuned stringed Instruments will strangely strongly Affect even at some considerable Distance As thus hang a little cooked Straw upon the Base or Remotest string upon your Base-Vial Lute or Harp make the trebble String either Unisons Diapasons or Dis-Diapasons that is either Ones Eights or Sixteens in which Notes do consist the highest Harmony in Musick and your stroke upon the Trebble either stop'd or open to make those Harmonious Sounds aforesaid will cause the Straw to cut Capers and to Dance a Gallyard leaping Levalto's all along till at last it falleth down which will not so much as move no not if it be placed upon the neareststring to the Straw as I have often tryed at any other Note No Reason can be rendred for this save only 't is from Harmony in Musick which is like the poor Shift of the Philosopher when Non-plus'd with the Sympathys and Antipathys in Nature both of Plants and Beasts his Retreat for a Solvo or Salvo is 't is an occult Quality which is Tantamont the great God hath posed me I know not the Reason The like is well known as to the Matter of Fact How Geometrical Symmetry in musical Sounds and Voices will marvellously Affect the Heart of all that are not Melancholick yet the manner of its Operation is hard to be Demonstrated As it is not doubted so neither must it be Denyed that those Celestial and Aetherial Stars do much Affect all Terrestrial and Elementary Bodies both Plants Beasts and Men that are upon the Earth and Subterranneal Mettals that are within the Earth by those powerful Influences which the great Creator did Concreate them with and placed in them otherwise we had never heard of the sweet Influences of the Pleiades or 7. Stars Job 38 31. those 7 Sisters or Lovers have an Irresistible Influence to produce the Spring-flowers c. nor ever have been call'd upon to pay our Tribute of praise upon our beholding the Garnished Heavens to the great Creator of them for mans good as we are Psalm 136 7 8 9. with ver 1. seeing they Thrust forth out of the Earth so many precious Creature-comforts for us Deut. 33. 14. nor ever have heard how the Stars fought in their Courses against Sisera Judg. 5 20. The Stars are call'd the Host of Heaven Psal 33 6. and in many more Scriptures where the Psalmist makes the first mention of this Host as the most glorious part of Creation work and how did this Host fight against Sisera Much like so many Soldiers that observed both Rank and File or rather like so many Regiments God their generalissimo call'd forth now one Regiment and then Another drawing up their extraordinary Influences to Confound his and his Peoples Enemies therewithal Some take these Stars Metaphorically for Angels as 2. Maccab 10 29 and 11 8. but the literal sense is more proper for God made those Hachochabim mimmisilotham Stars from their stations to stir up storms according to their Natural Influence and to Dash Hailestones Lightning and Thunderbolts in the faces of the Cursed Canaanites as Josephus saith Antiquit. lib. 5. chap. 6. Those Stars could more easily more strongly and more Hittingly cast their malignant Darts or Rayes from their High Stations as Misiloth signifies Downward upon those foes below than can possibly be cast from below upward for Killing work Esp God Directing these Darts to Hitt their appointed marks Notwithstanding all this we may not place the Stars in Gods stead as to Ascribe to them a Supreme Dominion Indeed these Superior bodies have expresly Job 38 33. a power or Dominion over our Inferior unto which we are Subject and must Submit yet is it only a Ministerial power a Dominion subordinate to the Appointment of God He may use their Ministry Respecting the mighty matters of this lower World as He did against Sisera yet may we not say that the lives and Fortunes of Men the Fates and Changes of States Depend wholly upon the Stars and may be foretold by the Temper figure colour and Posture of the Planets This is a Divination Condemned by the Word of God Deut. 18 10. Isa 47 13. c. and 't is a putting the Stars in Gods stead whereas All created beings yea the very Planets themselves are in the hand of God Indeed Plato in Timeao calls the Stars Gods such as the blind Gentiles and some Blockish Jews made so not only in observing them which all ought to do but also in Adoring them 2. Chron. 33 3. Jerem. 44 17. c. contrary to Deut. 4 19. c. I could wish that the names of those Planets were Reformed from those of Saturn Jupiter Mars Mercury c. Seeing all these were Names of the Heathen Gods which should be spetted out of Christians Mouthes with utmost Detestation Exod. 23 13. Psal 16 4 and Hos 2 17. Hereupon the Primitive Christians did dislike those names that Mercurius Trismegistus had given to the Days of the week such as Dies Saturni
Stiled the 7th from Adam also not in Respect of Degrees or Gradual Descent as was Enoch the 7th Patriarch not the 7th Person but by way of Computation and in Respect of so many Generations as some Reckon between them Elijah is computed the 7th Prophet from Adam and the first sent to the Gentiles a great Reviver of the Church as his Brother Enoch was and a Restorer of the Law Now here be two 7ths from Adam both Translated into Heaven which may intimate that after the 6000. Year of the World comes the 7th from Adam or 7th Millennium with its strange Translation likewise However this Translation of Enach is call'd Annus Sabbaticus Calvisius Opus Chronolog Page 3. Enoch predicts as a late Reverend writer saith Judicium matutinum the Morning part of the Judgment Day explain'd Dan. 7. 7. 8. 9. as if then to be seen behold he cometh which was not to be till the 7000. Year begin and the Vespertinum or Evening part is after it explained in Revel 20. 7. The Second Climacterical Conjunction by doubling the Number 8 here and all along was in the 1600. Year of the World under Noah in which Century the Universal Deluge destroy'd the wicked World which was then drowned in wickedness before it was drown'd in water Yet the Church had then her Annum Sabbaticum a compleat Year of Rest in Noahs Ark for from November when Noah had laid up all his Stores of the Earthly Fruits and entred the Ark with his Beasts Fowls and Family he remained there till the Beginning of November following As Enoch had been a Cooler to the Church when the wicked world was Hot in wickedness by his contrary Profession prophecying and Practice for which God took him up into Heaven as thinking no place good enough for him upon Earth and whose Translation gave to the Church the first Specimen or Proof that God had prepared another Life after this for his Saints wherein they should live with him in Glory for ever So Noah as his Name signifies was a Comforter to the Church saving her from the Deluge which Reduced the World to its first Chaos or Confusion Gen. 1. 2. when the Waters above the Firmament and the Waters under met again together and brings the Earth once more into her first posture to be covered with Water 'T was a peculiar priviledge that Noah brought the Church nigh God in this great Floud of Waters Psal 32. 6 Enoch was a Prophet foretelling Christs coming and Noah was a Preacher of Christs Righteousness had greater Blessings than Adam having the Promise I will no more destroy c. Gen. 8. 21. 22. the Bow in the Cloud and a new String to his Bow the Everlasting Covenant the pattern of all Covenants with Israel oft mention'd by the Prophets and the Floud made such a Baptism to the Earth also as help'd to wash away its Curse which Cursed Earth shall become so Renewed so Blessed of the Lord yea so much Christs Darling that He Resolves to make it the Centre of his Glory as some suppose at the 7th Millennium or last Revolution of the Superior Planets Revel 5. 9. 10. where the Saints or Angels Rejoice that they shall come out of Heaven to Reign upon Earth thus God tells Moses in the Mount that the Land shall enjoy her Sabbath of Rest not only a Temporal Levit. 26. 34. 46. and 2. Chron. 36. 21. and Levit. 25. 2. 6. But an Eternal one Hebr. 4. 9. which the Lord of the Sabbath Math. 12. 8. Mark 2. 27. 28. Rom. 9. 29. Jam. 5. 4. hath made for man The whole Earth shall be filled with his Glory Numb 14. 21. He will Cover or Atone it Deut. 32. 43. God not Adam named the Earth Erets which signifies of Ratsah to Delight as If He meant to take his pleasure upon it when the Heavens that Canopy and Curtain now hiding his Glory shall pass away as a Scroll of parchment before the Fire God will come to keep his Sabbath of Rest on Earth and here accept his People then the Land of Canaan more accursed than all Lands while possessed by the accursed Nations shall be most blessed the Glory of all Lands The place of Gods Residence and Delightful Rest Ezek. 26. 6. 40. and 34. 26. 30. Hos 2 20 23. c. The Third great Revolution still adding another 800 falls out in the 2400. y. of the World under Moses when the Church had again another Sabbath of Rest from her long and groaning slavery in the brick bondage of Egypt this is so plain in Scripture History I need not inlarge upon it as upon the 2 former a word only the blessed Messiah which the 7th Revolution may bring in is greater than Moses as much as a Son than a Servant c. Hebr. 3 3 4 5 6. He will plague the Pharaoh of mystical Aegypt with sorer and severer plagues his Vials of wrath Revel 16 till He make him yeeld and let go his People as Exod. 12. 31. He will not only bring his Church into the Wilderness which was all Moses could do leaving the conquest of Canaan to Joshua but bring her also into the Heavenly Country The fourth falls in the 3200. y. of the world adding another 8 to the 24. under Solomon and the Kings of Israel according to incomparable Tycho Brahe this is likewise evident enough in Scripture that the Church had her Sabbath of Rest under Solomon that peaceable King as his Name signifies yea and the Ark of God that had from Moses time hitherto no better harbor than in a Moving and Tottering Tabernacle found a Sabbath of Rest in a standing and stately Temple the wonder of the World not only for his time but for his Godly Successors also Still our Saviour whom the first Revolution ushers into the World in y. 4000. is greater than great Solomon Math. 12 42. He is the Prince of Peace the maker and matter of our peace our Sanctuary and Salvation in whom alone our Souls find a Sabbath of Rest Math 11 29. This needs still less Illustration Go forward then 800. y. more to the Sixth Epocha or Revolution in 4800 y. of the world which brings in Charles the great under whom as the Roman Empire was in its Zenith or most flourishing estate at Christs Birth so now it was translated from Rome into Germany This must be insisted upon a little because 't is beyond Scripture History 't is true the Church could have but a slender Sabbath of Rest in his Time for then Antichrist was Regnant and Leo was Rampant Leo the 3d was then Pope who prostituted his Keys to the Emperors feet for which the Popish People whipt him like a Rogue If not plucked out his Eyes and cut out his Tongue c. Prideaux Introduction pag. 96 yea in this 8th Century Pope Joane made a good proof that the Church of Rome was a Base Whore so that the â—â—st of the Church in this Age
13. but Moses Intimates that they are the Treasurys of God having Treasure laid up in them the Stars are Gods Store-houses out of which He scatters his precious things from his Heaven upon the Earth saying The Lord shall open to thee his good Treasure Deut. 28 12. Every Star saith one is as a purse of Gold out of which God casts down Riches that Good Men gather up by Honest means but the Evil scramble for by fraud or by Force that the Stars be Signs all do grant and in some sense Causes That they be Signs is grounded upon Gen. 1 14. Let them be for Signs yet some do narrow that word saying they are only Signs of Night and Day if so then the Sun and Moon had been enough to signify both these so all the Rest of the Thousands and of the Millions be altogether superfluous Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora what need many where two will do 't is against Common sense as well as express Scripture to deny that those Celestial Bodies are not Signs of Times and Seasons also as of Summer and Winter Gen. 8 22. of Weather c. yea Learned and solid Pareus on Gen 1 14. Excellently Argues that the Stars could not be call'd Signs unless They did signify something and that something He saith is to warn mortals of may Matters such as be 1 Natural 2 Civil 3 Spiritual and He Approves of that 〈…〉 Verse of Aratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Stars signify to men what matters are forged or framed for them As 1 Natural Signs they be of Heat Cold Dryness and Moisture c. 2 Civil the Sailor must Hoise up his Sails as the Word pleiades signifies when those 7 Sisters bring in the Spring with their sweet Influences So for setting sowing c. 3 Spiritual their Aspects and Passions saith he are Signs of spiritual Events as both Scripture and Experience teach such as Ecclipses Comets c. For though these things have their Causes in Nature yet do oft portend horrible Changes of publick Affairs Seditions Wars Droughts Inundations c. for so much as He saith they either do naturally excite those sore Judgments Through divine Pleasure or do certainly assist the Causes thereof therefore they do foreshew and are Signs of Gods Displeasure whereby Men are alarum'd to Repentance Though the Rainbow have a Natural cause as the Reflection of the Sun-beams in an opposit watery Cloud yet is it nevertheless a Sign of Divine Clemency Gen. 9. 8. for preserving the World How much more must those preternatural Passions of the Planets be Signs of either Gods Anger or Favor Pareus on Gen. pag. 54. Col. 12. All this He saith though in pag. 55. He shews himself no Friend to Judiciary Astrology which Dr. Willet likewise declares to be repugnant to Reason as well as Scripture and its practice in telling Fortunes and finding things lost c. to be Vain and Impious in his 20th Question Gen. 1. 14. My opinion is Astrology in the General is lawful provided it keep within its due Bounds and pry not too far into Gods Secrets Deut. 29. 29. 'T is only the allknowing God who can foretel future Events Isa 41. 21. 22. 27. 1. Eccles 8. 7. and 10. 14. c. Man knows not what shall be no nor the Devil not withstanding the Subtlety and Sagacity of his Angelical nature together with his long Experience to help Man therefore all his Oracles He deliver'd in ambiguous Terms that he might save his Credit when deceiv'd All Apollo's Oracles were made by Astrology saith Eusebius Depraeparat Evang. l b. 6. cap. 1. with lib. 5. cap 10. And they were not only directed by the Aspect of Stars but also ministred by Familiar spirits Yet the starry Heaven is a sacred Alphabet wherein the Wisdom Power Justice and Mercy of God are Lined out to us these all be written legibly yea Palpably as the word Act 17. 27. signifies in the Brows of the Firmament hence Clemens Alex Calls it the first Bible God made for Mans instruction 't is one of the 3 leaves of the Book of Nature which every mortal should read and consider Thus David did He read it because it declared the Glory of God Ps 19. 1. yea every line of that leaf he knew how far reached the length of those lines what David calls a line Faul calls a Voice Rom. 10. 18. quoted from Ps 19. 4 Reading Divinity-Lectures to all the Inhabitants of the Earth that they may make a serious contemplation of them and David considered as well as Read it Ps 8 3. All men as well as He should be much in this Consideration this Appears because 1 herein lays the Difference betwixt Men and Beasts which cannot consider any thing 2 The bolt upright figure of mans Body doth admonish him hereof The Heathen Poet Ovid could say thus Os Homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Jussit erectos ad sydera tollere vultus God with a lofty look did man Indue Commanding him the Heavens and Stars to View 3 We are taught this duty by the fift Muscle which God hath given to mans Eye whereas other Creatures have but four for drawing it upward ut ejus Auxilio Coelum Intueremur saith the Anatomist that by the help thereof we might Contemplate and Consider the Heavens some Heathens to the Shame of some Christians have said they were therefore Born that they might Contemplate the Heavens Alas many make more Delightful Contemplations upon Lumps of Farth than upon the Lamps of Heaven as Duke de Alva have so much business on Earth that they have no Time to Look up to Heaven let us consider them cry with David Lord what is man c Ps 8 3 4. in looking up we behold every Star Twinkling at us and as it were Beckoning to us to Remember our Creator Eccles 12 1. 'T is not presumption but Duty to Read the Face of the Firmament Matth. 16 2. Luke 12 56. 1 Kings 18 43 44. Read this Leaf while it is Expansum an open Leaf for it must be Rolled up and Folded together as a Scroll Isa 34. 4. and Rev. 6 14. yet rest not in Reading this Book of nature that only Declares Creation-Love 'T is the Book of Scripture in which Redemption love is Discover'd we are no where bid to search in the former as in the latter John 5 39. for Eternal life 'T is said Ubi definit Phtlosophus ibi incipit Theologus So where Nature Ends and can go no further there the Scripture begins and giveth more grace Jam 4 6. Isalm 19 1 2 7 8. 2 But the grand Question is though Stars be Signs whether they be also Causes seeing Mases calls them Signs Gen. 1 14 but never causes A. Baldwin saith Stars do incline irritate but do not necessitate p. 780 Cas Consc Amesius calls them common causes Cas Consc p. 191 Alsted stiles them Causae adiuvantes ibid