foretold the evils of the last dayes doth likewise set a conspicuous marke upon the times to signifie hee meanes the same times as Paul did Namely those that foregoe next before Christs appearance and Kingdome 2 Pet. 3.2 3 4. That yee may be mindfull of the words which were spoken before by the HOLY PROPHETS that is saith Marlorat the words which the Prophets spake concerning false Prophets which Peter had repeated 2 Epist Chap. 2. Vers 1. and of the last times Knowing this FIRST that there shall come in the last dayes scoffers saying Where is the promise of his COMMING For since the Fathers fell asleepe all things continue as they were from the creation As if they should say We see nothing of Christs appearances but outward providences or spiritual Ordinances But of Christs visible appearance at his COMMING we see no signe or symptome But saith Peter Verse 8. to the Saints Be yee not ignorant of this one thing that one day with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day As if he should say in that hee makes this repetition according to the judgement not onely of all the most learned Hebrews but also of most learned Mede that Christs comming wil be sudden to these Scoffers as if it were but a day or two hence every thousand years and parts of a thousand years shal be but in proportion to a day and so much of a day The seven thousand years of the World is but as the seventh day of its age when at farthest if our account of years from the creation be so short as we make it of which we have cause to doubt shal be the Sabbatisme of rest on Earth as Paul must needs meane Heb. 4. demonstrated largely in our Treatise of the thousand years And that day a thousand yeares of refreshment to the people of God And it must be saith Peter Verse 12 13. at his comming that for their refreshment they must have injoy and be in New Heavens and a new Earth wherein though not afore shall dwell all righteousnesse And these new Heavens and new EARTH must be such as he hath promised which promise is Isa 65.17 to the end of the Chapter wherein this state of the new Heavens and new Earth is so explained as cannot not onely in my judgement but the judgement of most learned Mede be understood of supernatural glory in the highest Heavens Thus also we see Peter marks out unto us that the evill times and the evils of the times hee speaks of doe in his sense antecede and usher in the next appearance or COMMING of Christ to set up his Kingdome on Earth One word of Judes marks upon the times of evil he speaks of and then we shal lanch forth into the deepe and Sea of the evils of those times One marke is Vers 14. Enoch the SEVENTH from Adam prophesied of these or such as these saying Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousands of his Saints Enoch evidently according to the computation of Moses Gen. 5. and of Luke Chap. 3. was the seventh from Adam thus Adam Seth Enos Cainan Mahaleel Jared Enoch that is Exclusively making Adam onely the beginning of the All of mankinde Enoch was the seventh Father that came out of Adams loynes which is according to the minde of the Text The seventh FROM Adam that is The seventh of the Fathers that were FROM Adam Between Adam and Enoch were but six Fathers So between Adam and the Age of which Enoch Prophesied that the Lord should come with ten thousands of his Saints to judge are at most but six Ages six thousand yeares and then the state of things in the seventh Eòdem recidit the second Adam Christ restores the World to the perfection of the first Adam but with more stability The emphasis of the seventh from Adam must of necessity signifie some such thing and not meerly signifie the antiquity of the quotation For if that had been all the Apostle mentioning the story of Sodom and as an example of judgement by fire might also have quoted Lot but doth not of a certainty therefore the seventh from Adam hath some notable thing in it as all sevenths in the Old Testament have And the constant tenor of the Jewes in all ages is and hath been that towards the end of the six thousandth yeare of the World great will the change be And our Text tels us that according as Enoch was a seventh so in a proportion to that the Lord should come to judge now after the Apostles times in the last dayes of the World Immediatly afore which shall be mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts spoken long afore by the Apostles of Jesus Christ as our Apostle Jude tels us Vers 17 18. which is a second marke of those evil times he speaks of to be the forerunners of the very last times before Christs appearance For if the Apostles foretel these things long afore then they are the last times when these things shal come to passe CHAP. II. Shewing in GENERAL That these present times in which we now live are those evill times that precede next before that first appearance of Christ which is yet to come THIS wil appeare by an exact weighing the agreement that is between our times and the general expressions of our three Apostles of the last dayes Jude saith Vers 18. Men should walke after their owne lusts Peter saith 2 Epist Chap. 3. Vers 3. the selfe same words And in Epist 2. Chap. 2. Vers 1. There shall be false Teachers that shall bring in damnable heresies Paul saith 2 Tim. 3.1 They shal be perilous times And in 1 Epist Chap. 4. Vers 1. Men shall depart from the faith The summ of all is That men shal depart from their Principles they shal depart in opinion and practise from their once received Principles of truth and mor all enlightened consciences Just as t is sayd of the foolish Virgins Matth. 25. they had no Oyle in their Vessels to maintaine their Lamps of former profession Principia essendi Principles of the being of Godlinesse they never had namely True sanctifying grace for that could never have gone out or been utterly lost But Principia cognoscendi Principles of knowledge what as Christians they ought to think and doe namely The knowledge of the Word to some conviction on the conscience that they had Now from these Principles immediately afore Christs comming they were departed And so t is now in these our dayes Men once called Professors are turned topsy turve as wee Proverbially say from what they were both in opinion and practice They are most perilous times above all times afore them for wicked opinions and practises The wickedest times afore as the Jewes in the worst of times held the Old Testament and the Papists both Old and New though with many false glosses but these times with open mouth cast away all the Scriptures the ground of all divine truth And what
of the Starrs are mingled with the qualities of the Elements of them above in their radiation afore they reach to us and of them beneath by exhalation of them and reflection of the beames of the Starres which is a second mixture and so a further confounding of humane understanding how to judge of them what they will effect Obj. Sol Luna post Deum omnium viventium vita sunt Herm. Trism The Sun and the Moon next under God are the life of all living creatures Answ If they be the life of all living creatures then no more of men then of beasts or plants What is this then to the actings of their understandings and wills wherein they are distinguished from and sublimated above all corporal things whose formes are materiales materiall not Spirituall Food is the cause of mans life yet that hath no influence upon the soule The soule of man acts pure yea purest reason when the body is as dead by deep sleep Therefore all this objection makes nothing for Astrologie Obj. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. Jud. de mund Opif. Movings and Earthquakes proceed from the concussions of the Heavens c. because the Starrs are made for Signes This objection out of FORGED Philo as learned Broughton calls him is nothing for the praise of Astrologie In Meteorologie are handled earthquakes They are passions of the Earth not of men the earth hath a fitt of the winde and makes it in part to tumble for ease till it belcheth it up againe If the attractive Starrs that at least draw light things upward are become depulsive to make the Aire descend I wonder t is not so sayd in all the body of Philosophie And if any thing be ascribed to the Starrs in the ascent of that Earthquake-ayre t is needlesse for it would as surely ascend of its owne levitating quality as soone as the Earth gives way without the help of the Stars as without them water will descend If Starrs be sayd mediately to cause Earthquakes I know not how their Hosts and Myriads bespangled over the Heavens surrounding the Earth operate in common as well as constantly and the Earthquaks are so seldome in time and so particular to petty places in comparison of the Vniverse that no just reason can predict this event by them To say that because the Starres are signes of some things as of Day and Night Heat and Cold c. which are naturall therefore they are signes of all or most things even of Contingencies Arbitraries and Moralities and to a ground of prediction of such is such a grosse Non-sequitur that no man that hath and useth reason will or can beleeve it Obj. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 6. Democritus foretold many things by the Observation of things above and it was called Wisedome Answ By what things above For there are some Elements above and in them many ayrie fierie and watery Meteors as well as Starrs If by the Starrs then what things did he foretell If that in Clemens Alexandrinus That Starrs are instruments of time Or that of Thales Milesius to foretell Ecclipses of the Sun c. Or finde out Vrsa minor or the like Starrs to direct the Marriner in Navigation these belong not to Astrologie but to Physiologie and Astronomie Nor doe they conduce to predictions of humane actings If hee foretold any thing being an Heathen which is not cleerely pre-visible by nature or reason his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisedome was falsly so called But to doe him lawfull right as farr as we can know He was saith the Story an Astronomer which produceth nothing for the honour of Astrologie Obj. Augustin saith Astrologia perscrutanda est ad cognoscendum proprietates istorum syderum ut hunc locum intelligere possimus that is Astrology is to be searched into to know the properties of those Starrs that we may be able to understand this place Therefore in the judgement of Augustin there is a lawfull use of Astrologie Answ I have sought this place in Augustin most diligently but could not finde it Nor doth the Quoter of it direct me where I might If there be any such place in Augustin it can import no more but this That some place of Scripture speaking of some Starrs the knowledge of the qualities of those Starrs would further the fuller understanding of that place of Scripture But what makes this to predicting Astrology more then Meale Leaven c. Matth. 13. or the Precious stones a Jasper and Sardine and Emerald Revelat. 4. whose properties well understood helpe more fully to know the meaning of those Scriptures Surely Augustin never intended in that expression if any such be in his Workes to advance Astrologie or Astronomie or the consideration of Starrs and Constellations for understanding of the Scriptures or any other good use For in his Workes * he hath these expressions Edit Basil per Frob. A.D. 1569. opposite to any such intent Astronomia parùm aut nihil commodat Scripturae Aug. Tom. 3. Col. 38. that is Astronomie little profits or lends to the Scripture Syderum cognitio parù utilis Scripturae Aug. Tom. 3. C. 38. that is The knowledge of the Starrs or Constellations is little profit to the Scripture Augustin in his T. 1. C. 761. T. 8. C. 197. speaks against Astrologos eorum curiositates Astrologers and their curiosities In his 1 T. C. 90.100.102.126.418 Hee detests the vanity of Astrologie In his 4 T. C. 742. He pronounceth that Astrologi veritatis inimici Astrologers are enemies of the truth In his 5 T. C. 279 c. he abundantly disputes of the uncertainty of Astrologie And in his 5 T. C. 291. Augustin hath this terrible speech against Astrologers namely Astrologorum res ponsa ex malis esse spiritibus that is That the answers of Astrologers are from or by evill Spirits And in his 8. T. C. 165. Augustin affirmeth that Astrologie is not necessary to this life Astrologia huic vitae non est necessaria Augustin in his 10. T. C. 625. sheweth the vanity of Astrologers And in his 8. T. C. 197. is his INVECTIVE against the new Astrologers Augustin in his fifth Book ' De civitate Dei Cap. 1. to which some give this title Contra Astrologorum ineptias i. e. Against the FOOLERIES of Astrologers Jo. Crisp hath these words Illi verò qui positionem stellarum quodammodo decernentiùm qualis quisque sit quid ei proveniat boni quid ve mali accidat ex Dei voluntate suspondunt si easdem stellas putant habere hanc potestatem traditam sibi â summà illius potestate ut volentes ista decernant magnam Caelo faciunt injuriam in cujus velut clarissimo senatu ac splendidissimâ curiâ opinantur scelera facienda decerni qualia si aliqua terrena civitas decrevisset genere humano decernente fuerat evertenda Quale deinde judicium de
to curse and seduce the people of Israel So they make merchandise of Professors selling their soules to sin and Hell for the gaine they receive by teaching such Doctrines And on the other side if people will maintaine such Impostors for teaching such their Doctrines there must be something in those Doctrines that must exceedingly please that people Now the two ingredients mentioned in this Chapter and Preached in this Age by these Varlets please unsound hearted Professors exceeding wel namely Doctrines of adultery of lusts of the flesh and of much wantonnesse and Doctrines of heresie that there is no need of a Christ no need to labour or trouble themselves with faith and repentance and the rules of the Gospell Though they were once carryed on in a way of reformation in and through the knowledge of Christ yet now they may lay aside Christ and t is their LIBERTY so to doe and their corruption of practice is their perfection as they openly professe it in these evill dayes and though in the judgement of the Scriptures and of good men they are as BRUTE BEASTS and SPOTS and BLEMISHES to the beauty of the Church yet they count it pleasure to ryot in the day time of the Gospel and if need be of the naturall day and sporting themselves in their lascivious ways though good men count them deceivings But that nor our eares nor this place wil beare it many horrid particulars might be here recited of the practises of these times They speak great swellings but are but WORDS and of vanity Though they seeme to be Wells yet not to hold the waters of life Doctrines of godlinesse but onely pitts to catch mens soules in And though they seem to be high they are but Clouds and not set to raine and drop downe the Doctrines of truth but empty Clouds carryed up and downe with the tempests of temptations of motions of their lusts and admiration of a fresh auditory to adore them for their licentious and flesh-pleasing Doctrines Sixteenthly T is prophesied in 2 Pet. 3.3 4. That in the last dayes there shall be Scoffers walking after their owne lusts and saying Where is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation Most exactly fulfilled in these dayes thousands of people alleadging the Scriptures as these doe for their licentiousnesse but refuse them where they are against them They settle themselves in a way of walking after their owne lusts and then turne Scoffers and despisers of the Doctrine of Heaven and Hell and the immortality of the soule as mine and others eares in part can witnesse Seventeethly and lastly T is prophesied in Jude Vers 18 19. That those scoffers in the last times walking after their owne ungodly lusts should separate themselves but are sensuall not having the spirit A most high impudence yet fulfilled in these times upon many These scoffers openly making local Heaven and Hell and the reunion of soule and body after death a meer fiction they utterly make voyd the whole frame and System of the Scriptures wherein we are taught the spirit and doe receive the spirit 2 Cor. 3. and yet wil pretend the spirit They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer vegetable or animals in comparison of the spirit of grace yea live most sensually and contrarily to the operation of the spirit where it dwels and yet pretend to have the spirit They 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they separate segregate or put a notion of distinction on themselves in their owne opinion that they have the spirit that they are better then others that are more strict and yet the Apostle wil allow them to be but animals at the best yea Bruit beasts as yee heard 2 Pet. 2. as their lives testifie against them in that they walke after their owne lusts and not after the rules and ruleings of the spirit as it acts in them that have indeed the holy spirit Thus yee have a short survey of the mighty masse of evils of the last dayes yee have had also a parallel of those sinnes and these present times we now live in And not onely here in these Nations we live in but of other Nations beyond the Seas especially where peace and liberty have abounded after great troubles Their rotten hearted men their hellish Books and Writings and so their damnable opinions and wayes of practice have been transmitted hither so that the whole Earth the whole Christian World is corrupted before the Lord. What therefore can we expect but that the Lord should take up some such resolutions as he did Gen. 6. immediately afore the Flood to bring an universal destruction or desolation upon the generality of them that are called Professors or Christians called there the Sons of God And surely a thing to be trembled at God hath not been silent to tel as wel what shal be the judgement upon the sins of the last times as the sins of the last times And therefore if the sins of the last times be ours the judgements of the last times wil be ours unlesse some effectual course be taken For Gods threatnings are conditional in the meaning however expressed as we see in the story of Nineveh Though judgements are threatned in the same places of Scripture where we had the sins fore-prophesied 2 Tim. 3.1 Those last impious times shal be perilous times And 2 Pet. 2. Vers 1. 8. they shal bring upon themselves swift destruction whose judgement now of along time lingereth not and their damation slumbereth not 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord will come as a theefe in the night in the which the Heavens shal passe away with a great noyse and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Yet in the same Scriptures are directions for escape to them that repent and beleeve and pray For the Apostle there tels us Vers 11. Seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godlinesse And what then What shall this availe against an epidemical disease of sin and a general ruine upon the Earth The Apostle answers both there and Chap. 2. That the destruction shal be to the wicked not to the godly his words there in 2 Pet. 3. Vers 13. are Neverthelesse we according to his promise expect new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwells righteousnesse And in 2 Pet. 2.4 5. c. to Ver. 10. his words and comforts are That God kept the obedient Angels though the sinning Angels he cast downe to Hell And though he spared not the old World yet he saved Noah the Preacher of righteousnesse c. And albeit hee turned the Cities of Sodom and Gomorah into ashes yet he delivered just Lot c. And upon or from all the Apostle draws an universal close of comfort that the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations though he punish the ungodly You see then it shal not be in vaine for the little flock of the godly to humble and pray when an universal storme is comming If there had been but ten righteous in Sodom it had been spared One wise Woman in Abel delivered the City And Jer. 5.1 to the same purpose So Ezek. 9.4 Mal. 3.16 17. And the Prophet speaks in general Isa 3.10 Say to the righteous it shall be well with them Therefore whereas the prophane Hereticks adulterous swearers blasphemers Atheists Papists debosht men have been eaten up by the late Warrs by thousands and a kinde of religiâ—â—s irreligious swarme and spawne of Hereticks adulterers swearers blasphemers Atheists and all sinning miscreants are risen up in their stead whose sins are worse because sinned upor pretended principles so to doe and may so doe and therefore the cry of their sins greater let us that feare the Lord indeed cry mightily to the Lord that through the blood of Christ that cryes better things then the blood of Abel we may outcry their sins Their sins are stil extant and insolent new Warrs threatned t is no time for true Christians to be secure So shal the Catastrophe be to us as to the Israelites going to Warr with Canaan if the Achans be punished and the godly Israelites humbled Canaanites though once their Brethren yet worshipping God according to the inventions of men and not accepting Peace according to Gods rule when offered are overthrowne and the Israelites possesse their Land This is more considerable because Joshua is made a type of Christ and called Jesus and the rest in Canaan a type of our rest in a glorious estate on Earth Hebr. 4. weigh the Chapter and the Original they that can and they shall finde it so And what is sayd in that first of Joshua and in a particular case of that Warr Vers 5. Is by the same Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 13. applyed to all beleevers in all cases And that which is spoken in that first of Joshua that all the ground â—he Israelites shall tread on should be theirs is promised to all beleevers according to Dan. 2. Dan. 7. c. in Revel 20. Amen
farr different events in the World have befallen them Where then is the certainety of Starr-predictions Where is the verity of Astrology It may be they will read us a Lecture of difference from magnitudes and motions of Starrs that some are bigger then the Earth some lesser againe that some finish some motions in twenty foure houres others not other motions in so many scores of yeares or more But if this be their defence the matter of predicting Astrology is thereby made to me more incredible For if as they say with Keckerman the Moone be lesse then the Earth at least twenty times and the rest of the Planets below the Sunne proportionably as Venus twenty seven times lesse then the Earth and Mercury two and twenty How then shall these at any posture at any one and the same time effect or signifie any thing to all the World For all the Astrologers in the World will undertake to prognosticate from these Planets upon all men on Earth borne at one and the same houre If the Sunne as they confesse be about an hundred and sixty times bigger then the Earth and all the Planets above the Sun proportionably as that Saturne is fourscore and eleven times bigger then the Earth Jupiter fourscore and fifteene times Mars one time bigger with one third how then is it that there is difference of natures and events in thousands borne at the same houre and especiall in Twins as we sayd afore If they say that this is because of the swift externall violent motion of all the Starrs Planets and Fixed that they are hurryed round the Earth by the first movable from East to West c. in twenty foure houres which is to runn sixty times sixty Miles in every houre then we demand how can the Starrs have time to make any distinct impression by any particular influence on one borne especially on one who perhaps may lie in the mouth of the womb partly borne partly unborne sometimes in the head and foreparts sometimes in the hinder parts for a quarter or halfe an houre or many houres Or what Astrologer upon the swiftnesse of those motions and the slownesse of the birth which cannot be borne in an instant but at best gradually shall be able to prognosticate punctually that such Starrs with such influence did so complexionate such an Infant at such a Minuit of time For by the computation aforesayd the Starrs run in the sayd motion in every minuit of the hour sixty Miles If Astrologers wil plead any thing to help themselves herein from the slownesse of other motions of the Starrs that are natural and internal to them as that all the fixed Starrs which are knowne by their twinckling to our sight move from North to South as they say so Alsted in three thousand five hundred yeares and back againe in three thousand five hundred yeares so that they finish not that motion under seven thousand yeares how then can any Age since the beginning of the World have experience what the Conjunction of the Starrs may produce So for the motions of the seven Planets If they say as Keckerman c. affirme that the Sun hath three Orbes First that in which the Sun it selfe is fixed and is the middle Orbe and is excentricall to the World that is The World or Earth is not just in the middle of it by reason whereof the Sun is sometimes in the Perige namely neerer the Earth for some moneths and sometimes in the Apoge to wit more remote from the Earth for other moneths And in this Eccentrick Orbe the Sun moves as they say according to the succession of the twelve Signes from West to East not finishing that motion under three hundred sixty five dayes and about six houres And withall as they assert that by reason of this Orbe the Sun moves as in relation to the center of the earth one while swifter another while slower that is to say it moves slower whiles it is on the Northern◠part of the World lingering there an hundred eighty six dayes eight houres and twelve minuits but runs swifter on the Southerne part of the World dispatching its race in an hundred seventy eight dayes one and twenty hours and twelve minuits and so stayes longer with some of the Signes as they say and lesse while with others And that secondly The Sun hath as they say a supreme Orbe contiguously adjoyned above to the aforesayd Orbe Thirdly an inferiour Orbe in like manner adjoyned beneath to the sayd middle Orbe both partly Concentrick partly Eccentrick the use of which two Orbs as held forth by Astronomers I shall not here stay to relate And the motion of those two extreame Orbs is as they confesse very slow so that they finish not their course which is like some motion of the eighth Sphere under forty nine thousands of years as Keckerman affirmes All which makes mee againe demand how any men could ever attaine to a certaine experience of Conjunctions of Starrs seeing this number of forty nine thousand extends it selfe to an age above seven times older then the creation of the Starrs It would be too tedious to recite all the severall Orbes and motions of all the other Planets according to the common opinion as that the Moone hath five Orbes some of which move swifter then those of the Sun putting her twice every moneth in her Apoge or exaltation and twice in her Perige or descention with differences in both that in the same Apoge it is somtimes higher and sometimes lower and so in the same Perige and hath one motion that is not finished under eighteen yeares seven moneths and about twelve houres That Saturne hath a motion whose course takes up thirty yeares Jupiter one of twelve Mars one of two Venus of one And Mercuries motion as Keckerman affirmes Est admodum varius imo magnâ parte adhuc incognitus that is it is wonderfull various yea for the most part yet unknowne Now lay all these varieties and uncertainties together and then judge what certainty of experience there can be had of the conjunctions of Starrs just so long and so much as to make such a sure impression of such influences and efficacies on men in the birth as may duely and truely prognosticate that so shal such a man be and doe but so anothér especially in Twins The third Argument All rules of Sciences and Arts by the fundamental Position of Artists are Axiomes Maxims Theoremes Canons c. that is Most worthy and most speciall principles experiments or rules for their verity and certainety But such are not the rules of Astrology First Because of the foresayd various varieties and uncertainties of Starrs both in their owne motions and in comparison with others Secondly Because no man knoweth the particular qualities or efficacies of all the Starrs No Artist yet ever undertooke to speake of more then the seven Planets and some few nominated Fixed Starrs of some few severall magnitudes leaving out millions that are
because we can see the heeles of the lesser Northerne Beare adjacent to the North Pole to be downward towards the Earth in the evening and to be upward in the morning But we have no sure ground to conclude that there are more Heavens either the Chrystall ninth or the first moving tenth The grand reason brought to prove them from the two other motions of the eighth Heaven of fixed Starrs beside that from East to West in twenty foure houres as that the eighth Heaven of fixed Stars moves from West to East comming to be in the same posture as when they began that motion by the end of forty nine thousand yeares And that the same eighth Heaven hath another motion from South to North and thence to South againe which processe and recesse is a finishing seven thousand yeares and therefore that that motion of the eighth Heaven from East to West in twenty foure houres must needs be violent as forced from some tenth Heaven naturally so moving and that from West to East in forty nine thousand yeares must be also violent as forced from some ninth Heaven naturally so moving and the last motion of the eighth Heaven Viz. From South to North and back againe in seven thousand yeares to be the naturall peculiar innate motion of that eighth Heaven seeing that as they forme the Argument one simple single moveable body can have but one natural motion I say this Argument doth not evince my reason in the least to beleeve the existence and being of a ninth and tenth Heaven For God that by his Word at the beginning sayd to the Earth Stand thou still and to the Sea Move thou continually with severall motions as of flowing and reflowing twise every twenty foure houres and they obey his voice to this day the same God commanding the eighth Heaven to runn from East to West every twenty foure houres and withall to linger and slinck back every day a little from West to East as suppose with the Astronomer as much as comes to one Degree or sixty miles in an hundred yeares which is about three quarters of a mile in one yeare and halfe a quarter and also to roule forward from South to North and back againe from North to South so gradually till in seven hundred yeares it is as it was cannot choose but obey the voice of God and so move without ceasing And to throw away Traditions in Philosophy as well as in Divinity t is a readier way and surer to say God commanded the Heavens so to move at first creation and they obey then to say Primus motor God moves the Angels or Intelligences they move a tenth Heaven a tenth heaven moves the other heavens And to the clause of one natural body we say that there is hardly any naturall motion without some violent as the Philosopher cals violent For if fire ascends no more of the flame ascends in a pure natural motion but that which ascends in the Mathematical indivisible line in the point of the Pyramis pointing from the center-point of the earth to its correspondent point in the Sphere of the lowest Heaven Indeed if the Pyramicall forme of the flame were turned upside downe then all the flakes of flame might seeme to take their natural order proportionable from one center-point in the Earth to their severall correspondent points in the Sphere of the lowest Heaven So of any heavy body Stone or Bowle c. falling downe from some high places to the Earth no more of it moves naturally in a precise notion of naturally then the very middle of it tending downward in a Mathematicall strait Line to the Center-point of the Earth the corners of such a Stone or the circumference of that Bowle falling not with the like naturall motion because there is but one universal Center-point in the middle of the Earth to answer to all downward motions which is the Physicall demonstrative reason why naturally the Earth is round the heavy parts more pressing to the general Center-point the lighter lesser So the Water in its motion in a River it naturally tends downeward yet desires not to be so low as the Center of the Earth And the meane while it tends progressively forward and in this progressive motion no more is precisely naturall but what proceeds in a strait line For the water hath no minde of it selfe to goe out of its Line that being out of its way and besids its design So that either we must say one body may have many naturall motions or we must no more feigne more Heavens then eight to move the rest in their several motions then we dare feigne more Elements then foure to manage the severall motions that are in each one of them Secondly Touching the imaginarie Sphere the Zodiack this must needs be an infalible conclusion so far as the Heaven or firmament of the Zodiack is feigned so farr of necessity must the Zodiack supposed in that Heaven or firmament be a meer feigned thing We heard afore that most Learned Philosopher and Astronomer Keckerman lay it down for a sure rule That Astronomers may make and use Hypotheses that is Suppositions but Astrologers may not But the ninth and tenth Sphere or Heaven are feigned therefore the Zodiack imagined in them is also feigned T is worth the while to heare Alsted which is to our purpose what he sayth concerning the Zodiack The Zodiack saith he of the first mover that is the tenth Heaven is IMAGINARY of the eighth Sphere real The imaginary is Primaryly and ORIGINALLY in the first Mover or tenth Heaven in the inferior Spheres it is secondarily conceited The Reall changeth its situation the IMAGINARY doth note The signes also of the real Zodiack are wonderfull UNEQUAL but in the imaginary equall In accounts the imaginary Zodiack is more commodious but not so in predictions Thus you see how much fiction there is about the Zodiack and more honour ascribed to the feigned then to the reall Thirdly Touching the twelve imaginary Signes There is no such formes of Starrs as of themselves seeme such Compare Taurus and Aries And Aries lying under Balaena Tradition and Globes tell us such things but the Starrs of themselves cold never make us so imagine See the Celestial Globe Fourthly Touching the disorderly placing of the hott dry Signes in parts that are not hott and dry Note that Alsted a Learned Philosopher and was also an Astrologer at least in opinion affirmes in his System or Treatise of Astrologie that the twelve Signes are divided into foure Trigonos that is Ternions or Threes In primo trigono sunt signa ignea videlicet ARIES LEO SAGITTARIUS In his dominatur Calor siccitas quae dominantur cholerae sapori amaro that is In the first Ternion are the fiery Signes ARIES the Ram LEO the Lyon and SAGITTARIUS the Archer In these Signes are predominant heat and drynesse which have dominion and rule over Choler and bitternesse So Alsted
homirum factis Deo relinquitur quibus Caelestis necessitas adhibetur cum Dominous ille sit syderum hominum Aut si non dicunt stellas accepta quidem potestate a summo Deo arbitrio suo ista decernere sed in talibus necessitatibus ingerendis illius omnino jussa complere it ane de ipso Deo sentiendum est quod indignissimum visum est de stellarum voluntate sentire Quod si dicuntur stellae significare potius ista quam facere ut quasi locutio quaedam sit illa positio praedicens futura non agens non enim mediocriter doctorum hominum fuit ista sententia non quidem ita solent loqui Mathematici ut verbi gratiâ dicant Mars ita positus homicidam significat * sed homicidam facit veruntamen ut concedamus non eos ut debent loqui c. Qui fit quod nihil unquam dicere potuerunt cur in vitâ geminorum in actionibus in eventis in professionibus artibus c. adhumanam vitam pertinentibus at que in ipsa morte sit plerumque tanta diversitas ut similiores eis sint quantum ad haec attinet multi extranei quam ipsi inter se gemini Ita Aug. In cujus verba ad * ad hunc modum Erasmus Mars sydus est ardens violentum cruentum FIRMICUS Lib. 3. Martem in septimo ab horoscopo loco partiliter constitutum id est in occasu maxima mala immensa pericula scribit decernere FACERE scilicet homines homicidas sceleratos facinerosos Ita Erasmus è Firmico i. e. As for those that make these operations of the Starrs in good or bad to depend upon Gods will if they say that they have this power given them from him to use according to their owne wills they doe Heaven much wrong in imagining that any wicked acts or injuries are decreed in so glorious a Senate and such as if any earthly City had but instituted the whole generation of man would have conspired the subversion of it And what part hath God left him in this disposing of humane affaires if they be swayed by a necessity from the Starrs whereas he is the Lord of Starrs and of men If they doe not say that the Starrs are Causes of these wicked acts through a power that God hath given them but that they effect them by his expresse command is this fitt to be imagined for true of God that is unworthy to be held true of the Starrs But if the Starrs be sayd to portend this onely and not procure it and that their posirions be but signes not causes of such effects for so hold many Learned Men Truly the Astrologians use not to say Mars in such an house signifieth this or that no but Maketh the Childe born an Homicide But to grant them this errour of speech c. how commeth it to passe that they could never shew the reason of that diversity of life actions state profession art honour and such humane accidents that have befallen two Twins Nor of such a great difference both in the things aforesayd and in their death that in this case many strangers have come neerer them in their course of life then the one hath don to the other c. Upon which words at * Erasmus of himselfe and out of Firmicus saith Mars is a Starr bloody fiery and violent Being in the seventh House saith Firmicus l. 3. in a Partile aspect with the Horoscope that is in the West doth presage that is Maketh men murtherers wicked and heynous Augustin in the same Book Chap. 7. hath to this purpose Jam illud quis ferat quod in eligendis diebus nova quaedam suis actibus fata moliuntur Non erat videlicet ille ita nat us ut haberet admirabilem filium sed it a potius ut contemptibilem gigneret et ideo vir doctus elegit horam qua misceretur uxori Fecit ergo fatum quod non habebat sed ex ipsius fato cepit esse fatale quod in ejus nativitate non fuerat O stultitiam singularem Eligitur dies ut ducatur uxor credo propterea quia potest in diem non bonum nisi eligatur incurri et infeliciter duci Vbi est ergo quod nascenti jam sydera decreverunt An potest homo quod ei jam constitutum est diei electione mutare et quod ipse in eligendo die constituerit non poterit ab alia potestate mutaeri c. that is But who can endure this foolery of theirs to invent a now destinie for every action that a man undertaketh That wise man aforesaid it seemes was not borne to have an admirable son but rather a contemptible one and therfore elected he his hour wherein to beget a worthy one so thus did he worke himselfe a destiny more then his Starrs portended and made that a part of his fate which was not signified in his nativity O singular fondnesse A day must now be chosen for Marriage because otherwise one might light on an unlucky day and so make an ill marriage But where then is the destiny of your nativity Can a man change what his fate hath appointed by choosing this day or that and cannot the fate of that day which he chooseth be altered by another fate Againe if men alone of all the creatures on earth be under the starry power why doe they choose dayes to plant and dayes to sow and so forth dayes to tame Cattle dayes to put to Males for increase of Oxen or Horses and such like If the election of those dayes be good because the Starres have dominion in all earthly bodyes living creatures and plants according as the times doe change let them but consider how many creatures have originall from one and the same instant and yet have such diverse ends as he that but noteth will deride those Observations as Childrens toyes For what Sot will say that all hearbs trees beasts birds serpents wormes and fishes have each one a particular moment of time to be brought forth in Yet men doe use for trying of the Mathematicians skil to bring them the figures of the births of beasts which they have for this end diligently observed at home and him they hold the most skilfull Mathematician that can say by the figure this portendeth the birth of a beast and not of a man c. Thus far Augustin out of whom I might have quoted much more but they that list may in his Works easily find it of themselves CHAP. XI A PARALLEL of other particular sins of the present times with the prophesies of those Texts afore named of the last dayes demonstrating that these are the times forerunning Christs next appearance according to the Prophesies of the Scriptures T IS further prophesied in the first Epistle to Timothy Chap. 4. Vers 2.3 First That in those later times Vers 1. Men shal speake lyes in hypocrisie Two evil qualities to be Hypocrites and to